Phil
@philmarfisi.bsky.social
Sidewalk enthusiast. Other interests: public policy, housing, urbanism, Waterloo Region, Ontario politics, #cdnpoli, Star Trek, music, news media, international relations, and the Oxford comma. Democracy is good, actually.
Reposted by Phil
We are kidnapping your neighbours and sending them to lawless gulags abroad but let's focus on the real problem here: people not wearing business casual on airplanes
Duffy: "Trump talks about the golden age of transportation. But the golden age in transportation truly begins with you ... People dress up like they're going to bed when they fly ... so we want to push people as we come into a really busy travel season: Help people out, be in a good mood, dress up"
November 23, 2025 at 6:30 PM
We are kidnapping your neighbours and sending them to lawless gulags abroad but let's focus on the real problem here: people not wearing business casual on airplanes
Gemini is nowhere near as reliable as Google Assistant was for the most basic of tasks lmao
Sam Altman admits OpenAI is in trouble after Gemini 3 release in a leaked memo, per The Information.
OpenAI is projected to lose $7B by 2028. They're burning $8.5B a year trying to compete.
Google has YouTube, Search, Gmail, Maps, and Android. Billions of users. No other company has that combo.
OpenAI is projected to lose $7B by 2028. They're burning $8.5B a year trying to compete.
Google has YouTube, Search, Gmail, Maps, and Android. Billions of users. No other company has that combo.
November 23, 2025 at 5:27 AM
Gemini is nowhere near as reliable as Google Assistant was for the most basic of tasks lmao
Imagine the Vulcans land in 2063 and we don't have high speed rail from Toronto to Montreal yet?
Star Trek: First Contact was released 29 years ago today.
We'll be soon halfway between the film's release and First Contact Day (2063). 😄
We'll be soon halfway between the film's release and First Contact Day (2063). 😄
November 23, 2025 at 4:35 AM
Imagine the Vulcans land in 2063 and we don't have high speed rail from Toronto to Montreal yet?
The legend lives on
from the Chippewa on down
Of the big lake they call Gitche Gumee
The lake as it is said
Never gives up her dead
When the skies of November turn gloomy
from the Chippewa on down
Of the big lake they call Gitche Gumee
The lake as it is said
Never gives up her dead
When the skies of November turn gloomy
November 23, 2025 at 4:30 AM
The legend lives on
from the Chippewa on down
Of the big lake they call Gitche Gumee
The lake as it is said
Never gives up her dead
When the skies of November turn gloomy
from the Chippewa on down
Of the big lake they call Gitche Gumee
The lake as it is said
Never gives up her dead
When the skies of November turn gloomy
Hard to describe what it was like to be in university during this period. Momentum on climate change was on an upward trajectory! Obergefell made it feel like we were making progress in 2SLGBTQ+ rights. Of course it was naive to think this, but it felt like progress would just... continue.
#COP30 "exposed the world as it is — haltingly and slowly tackling climate pollution, and fragmented by rising economic nationalism and protectionism, rather than the united, optimistic community of nations that produced the Paris climate agreement 10 years ago."
www.politico.com/news/2025/11...
www.politico.com/news/2025/11...
The world is fractured. The climate talks reflected that.
Delegates from nearly 200 nations — not including the U.S. — showed they could make some progress. But they deferred the hardest decisions.
www.politico.com
November 23, 2025 at 2:54 AM
Hard to describe what it was like to be in university during this period. Momentum on climate change was on an upward trajectory! Obergefell made it feel like we were making progress in 2SLGBTQ+ rights. Of course it was naive to think this, but it felt like progress would just... continue.
"When a building goes, those memories have nowhere to rest or cling to. In Toronto most new development is forced onto major streets, so public, shared places face redevelopment while private homes don't. That's city policy."
I wrote about the Imperial Pub this week & then diverted from writing about the Imperial Pub.
Shawn Micallef: What a Toronto councillor’s bizarre, AI-generated image of Lawrence Plaza says about nostalgia and change in our city
The outpouring of grief for things that are lost is understandable, but nostalgia can also be harnessed for questionable reasons.
www.thestar.com
November 23, 2025 at 2:40 AM
"When a building goes, those memories have nowhere to rest or cling to. In Toronto most new development is forced onto major streets, so public, shared places face redevelopment while private homes don't. That's city policy."
Reposted by Phil
Reposted by Phil
Fascinating things are happening on X, the everything app
November 23, 2025 at 1:26 AM
Fascinating things are happening on X, the everything app
Many aren't aware of this but the St. Lawrence Seaway was originally conceived of as a system of lazy river canals that would double as skating highways in the winter. Unfortunately, Ronald Reagan and Brian Mulroney sold off the canal crown corporation in the 1980s so it could be used for trade.
A coast to coast Zamboni highway and skate track
I want to hear your uncomfortably big ideas for Canada!
November 22, 2025 at 6:40 PM
Many aren't aware of this but the St. Lawrence Seaway was originally conceived of as a system of lazy river canals that would double as skating highways in the winter. Unfortunately, Ronald Reagan and Brian Mulroney sold off the canal crown corporation in the 1980s so it could be used for trade.
Reposted by Phil
Toronto deliberately killed apartment construction in the early 1970s, after a generation-long building boom.
Almost all of that housing was built by “the market.”
Almost all of that housing was built by “the market.”
Charting number of rental units in apartment buildings in Toronto by year of construction
(This is a quick update to a similar chart I made ~2.5 years ago)
#toronto #housing #dataviz #NationalHousingDay
(This is a quick update to a similar chart I made ~2.5 years ago)
#toronto #housing #dataviz #NationalHousingDay
November 22, 2025 at 2:41 PM
Toronto deliberately killed apartment construction in the early 1970s, after a generation-long building boom.
Almost all of that housing was built by “the market.”
Almost all of that housing was built by “the market.”
It is possible to acknowledge shortcomings that affect some of the current market - financialization, unit size, construction quality - while understanding that we have a lot of people for whom these types of homes are ideal, despite the very real problems that do need attention.
November 22, 2025 at 6:28 PM
It is possible to acknowledge shortcomings that affect some of the current market - financialization, unit size, construction quality - while understanding that we have a lot of people for whom these types of homes are ideal, despite the very real problems that do need attention.
Fantastic piece that avoids naivete while offering a needed defense of condo living in the national discourse. The preening condescencion from comfortably housed progressives in Canada about "shoebox" living is often insuffocating, and presumptuous about the choices they think people should make.
For the Star, I make the case for the condo/apartment as aspirational -- that the Canadian dream can also be an apartment in a dense neighbourhood and not, as is so often the case in this country, be taken to only ever mean a detached house. www.thestar.com/opinion/star...
Navneet Alang: Condos get a bad rap. Here’s why they should be part of the Canadian dream
My parents bought their first home for 11,000 pounds (approximately $20,000) in 1974. It was an ordinary small row house on a dour street in East London. Now, more than
www.thestar.com
November 22, 2025 at 6:28 PM
Fantastic piece that avoids naivete while offering a needed defense of condo living in the national discourse. The preening condescencion from comfortably housed progressives in Canada about "shoebox" living is often insuffocating, and presumptuous about the choices they think people should make.
Warren-Mamdani ticket when
“Lucky”?
Health care is being ripped away, grocery prices are up, and power bills are surging. The reality is families are feeling squeezed.
Trump won’t even admit there’s a problem.
Americans deserve the truth — and real plans to lower costs.
Health care is being ripped away, grocery prices are up, and power bills are surging. The reality is families are feeling squeezed.
Trump won’t even admit there’s a problem.
Americans deserve the truth — and real plans to lower costs.
Americans deserve the truth — and real plans to lower costs.
YouTube video by Senator Elizabeth Warren
youtube.com
November 22, 2025 at 5:01 PM
Warren-Mamdani ticket when
Cedar Point and access to Chicago deep dish were two of the major wish list items
November 22, 2025 at 6:51 AM
Cedar Point and access to Chicago deep dish were two of the major wish list items
We also get Chicago, as a treat
November 22, 2025 at 6:38 AM
We also get Chicago, as a treat
We annex the Great Lakes to form Super Ontario
November 22, 2025 at 6:38 AM
We annex the Great Lakes to form Super Ontario
The Cambridge ONRoute must be designated a national historic site
I want to hear your uncomfortably big ideas for Canada!
November 22, 2025 at 6:30 AM
The Cambridge ONRoute must be designated a national historic site
The fact this is the most Toronto answer to the question 😭 (all respect though bc I can and will cram in as many day trips as I can)
November 22, 2025 at 6:27 AM
The fact this is the most Toronto answer to the question 😭 (all respect though bc I can and will cram in as many day trips as I can)
Smh, abundance agenda astroturf
November 22, 2025 at 6:24 AM
Smh, abundance agenda astroturf
Also one of the primary reasons that rail in Ontario is so awful. The rail duopoly here owns most of the tracks and freight tends to get priority.
November 22, 2025 at 3:04 AM
Also one of the primary reasons that rail in Ontario is so awful. The rail duopoly here owns most of the tracks and freight tends to get priority.
BREAKING: despot president caves to Comrade Mamdani's complete streets socialism: "if we don't have safe streets, it's not a success. We're going to have the greatest bike lanes, no one's seen anything like it. We're doing gold bollards on every sidewalk. 24 karat gold bollards."
November 22, 2025 at 1:29 AM
BREAKING: despot president caves to Comrade Mamdani's complete streets socialism: "if we don't have safe streets, it's not a success. We're going to have the greatest bike lanes, no one's seen anything like it. We're doing gold bollards on every sidewalk. 24 karat gold bollards."
Reposted by Phil
wonder if mamdani tried to single stair pill him
single stair, folks. you’re hearing it more and more. single stair. it’s a beautiful term. makes wonderful homes - and we love a lot of beautiful, affordable homes. i think i probably just coined it. i’m not sure. but you’re hearing it more and more.
single stair, folks. you’re hearing it more and more. single stair. it’s a beautiful term. makes wonderful homes - and we love a lot of beautiful, affordable homes. i think i probably just coined it. i’m not sure. but you’re hearing it more and more.
November 21, 2025 at 9:22 PM
wonder if mamdani tried to single stair pill him
single stair, folks. you’re hearing it more and more. single stair. it’s a beautiful term. makes wonderful homes - and we love a lot of beautiful, affordable homes. i think i probably just coined it. i’m not sure. but you’re hearing it more and more.
single stair, folks. you’re hearing it more and more. single stair. it’s a beautiful term. makes wonderful homes - and we love a lot of beautiful, affordable homes. i think i probably just coined it. i’m not sure. but you’re hearing it more and more.
Until we make those decisions, we will continue through the same cycles of bad public health outcomes and a disenchanted public. The social disorder caused by all of this is a real concern and can't be downplayed, but the fact we won't choose the solutions that will fix it is just as problematic.
November 22, 2025 at 12:46 AM
Until we make those decisions, we will continue through the same cycles of bad public health outcomes and a disenchanted public. The social disorder caused by all of this is a real concern and can't be downplayed, but the fact we won't choose the solutions that will fix it is just as problematic.
The solutions are all well known. Keeping people in poverty or in prison is light years more expensive than giving them the support they need. But, because of the massive amount of upfront capital needed to build it all out, our governments are afraid to commit beyond the next election cycle.
November 22, 2025 at 12:46 AM
The solutions are all well known. Keeping people in poverty or in prison is light years more expensive than giving them the support they need. But, because of the massive amount of upfront capital needed to build it all out, our governments are afraid to commit beyond the next election cycle.