Shawn Micallef
@shawnmicallef.bsky.social
Local tosser
Books author (New: Stroll!)
Toronto Star column writer
Spacing Magazine co-founder
U of T instructor
Trying to do it a bit different here than the last place.
Links to books, etc:
https://linktr.ee/shawnmicallef
🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️🤘🏼
Books author (New: Stroll!)
Toronto Star column writer
Spacing Magazine co-founder
U of T instructor
Trying to do it a bit different here than the last place.
Links to books, etc:
https://linktr.ee/shawnmicallef
🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️🤘🏼
Pinned
Stroll, updated edition
THE TORONTO STAR'S "30 BOOKS WE CAN'T WAIT TO READ THIS SPRING"The updated edition of a Toronto favourite meanders around some of the city’s unique neighborhoods and considers what makes a city walka...
chbooks.com
Hi new folks. Last year I rewrote my book Stroll: Psychogeographic Walking Tours of Toronto. Added like 30000 more words too. My (Toronto) life's work. A very good present to give! Bookstores or direct from Coach House or...
chbooks.com/Books/S/Stro...
I'm imagining undercooked poultry described the way Grok lusts over Elon Musk's athleticism.
NEW: AI “recipe slop” is overrunning search and social. Food creators say Google’s AI Overviews and glossy fake food pics are drowning out real, tested recipes — collapsing traffic and setting home cooks up for disaster, especially this Thanksgiving.
Gift link: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Gift link: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
AI Slop Recipes Are Taking Over the Internet -- And Thanksgiving Dinner
Food bloggers see traffic dip as home cooks turn to AI, inspired by impossible pictures
www.bloomberg.com
November 25, 2025 at 4:54 PM
I'm imagining undercooked poultry described the way Grok lusts over Elon Musk's athleticism.
Reposted by Shawn Micallef
You pull yourself up by your boostraps. Me? I DESERVE free money from the government, and so do my rich friends bsky.app/profile/cwar...
November 25, 2025 at 4:21 PM
You pull yourself up by your boostraps. Me? I DESERVE free money from the government, and so do my rich friends bsky.app/profile/cwar...
Reposted by Shawn Micallef
I shudder to think that there are people getting bad advice about canning. Sauce on tamale husks is one thing, botulism is quite another.
NEW: AI “recipe slop” is overrunning search and social. Food creators say Google’s AI Overviews and glossy fake food pics are drowning out real, tested recipes — collapsing traffic and setting home cooks up for disaster, especially this Thanksgiving.
Gift link: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Gift link: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
AI Slop Recipes Are Taking Over the Internet -- And Thanksgiving Dinner
Food bloggers see traffic dip as home cooks turn to AI, inspired by impossible pictures
www.bloomberg.com
November 25, 2025 at 4:08 PM
I shudder to think that there are people getting bad advice about canning. Sauce on tamale husks is one thing, botulism is quite another.
Interesting to think of Detroit here. They did this twice, in the 80s with the People Mover (Scarborough RT & Vancouver Skytrain tech) and the 00s with the Woodward tram. Both more about downtown revitalization than really useful transit. (People mover still the coolest "tour" of downtown)
my read on it is that US streetcar revival had less to do with transportation planning and more with downtown revitalization & real estate development.
canadian city centres were never as hollowed-out and so the desire wasn't ever there. nor was a federal transit funding program like the US had.
canadian city centres were never as hollowed-out and so the desire wasn't ever there. nor was a federal transit funding program like the US had.
When the US was swept with the new-streetcars-mixed-with-traffic fad in the 00s, Canada didn’t build a single one. They only built rail in exclusive lanes.
I wonder if that’s because most educated Canadians have visited Toronto and experienced its old streetcar lines.
I wonder if that’s because most educated Canadians have visited Toronto and experienced its old streetcar lines.
November 25, 2025 at 4:07 PM
Interesting to think of Detroit here. They did this twice, in the 80s with the People Mover (Scarborough RT & Vancouver Skytrain tech) and the 00s with the Woodward tram. Both more about downtown revitalization than really useful transit. (People mover still the coolest "tour" of downtown)
Same in Toronto...
One example:
Took years for them to stop using the public plaza in front of 52 Division as their parking lot.
Abuses now are generally one at a time.
One example:
Took years for them to stop using the public plaza in front of 52 Division as their parking lot.
Abuses now are generally one at a time.
“The Police Department will continue to allow precinct commanders to ignore parking rules, refusing to implement one of the major placard abuse reforms recommended by city probers earlier this year, Streetsblog has learned.” — nyc.streetsblog.org/2025/11/25/e...
EXCLUSIVE: NYPD Rejects Ending 'Self-Enforcement' Scandal at Precinct Houses - Streetsblog New York City
Police brass are refusing to implement a major reform recommended by city probers earlier this year. And the agency won't say why.
nyc.streetsblog.org
November 25, 2025 at 3:48 PM
Same in Toronto...
One example:
Took years for them to stop using the public plaza in front of 52 Division as their parking lot.
Abuses now are generally one at a time.
One example:
Took years for them to stop using the public plaza in front of 52 Division as their parking lot.
Abuses now are generally one at a time.
Reposted by Shawn Micallef
Sometimes even 'liberal', sympathetic Americans - including more progressive media like the New Yorker - think of Canadians as kind of cute, pseudo-Americans. This ingrained paternalism is part of the problem...
November 25, 2025 at 2:56 PM
Sometimes even 'liberal', sympathetic Americans - including more progressive media like the New Yorker - think of Canadians as kind of cute, pseudo-Americans. This ingrained paternalism is part of the problem...
A new twist on NIMBYism. Neighbours are worried it will be come a memorial park.
Daughter of Barry and Honey Sherman buys property where her parents were murdered
Daughter of Barry and Honey Sherman buys property where her parents were murdered
Neighbours of the north Toronto property, where the Shermans’ house once stood, are worried about what it might become.
www.thestar.com
November 25, 2025 at 2:51 PM
A new twist on NIMBYism. Neighbours are worried it will be come a memorial park.
The angry & mocking replies & quotes from what I imagine are liberals is yet another bit of evidence that Americans of all stripes don't grasp how angry Canadians are about American belligerence. Pointing out the origin of "americano" insists on missing the point of the gesture.
November 25, 2025 at 2:41 PM
The angry & mocking replies & quotes from what I imagine are liberals is yet another bit of evidence that Americans of all stripes don't grasp how angry Canadians are about American belligerence. Pointing out the origin of "americano" insists on missing the point of the gesture.
Reposted by Shawn Micallef
These aren't the actions of a group looking to change things. Everything is about making people more angry. Nothing is productive. Nothing is about making things better.
November 25, 2025 at 12:48 PM
These aren't the actions of a group looking to change things. Everything is about making people more angry. Nothing is productive. Nothing is about making things better.
Reposted by Shawn Micallef
‘This comes down to power.’ Why the clash between frustrated renters and the Ford government feels different this time
‘This comes down to power.’ Why the clash between frustrated renters and the Ford government feels different this time
‘This comes down to power.’ The clash between frustrated renters and the Ford government feels different this time, with experts saying worsening affordability set a high-stakes stage for Bill 60.
www.thestar.com
November 25, 2025 at 2:19 PM
‘This comes down to power.’ Why the clash between frustrated renters and the Ford government feels different this time
Reposted by Shawn Micallef
Not the 2 councillors that I might have predicted at the IntegrityTO launch but also not completely surprising. www.thestar.com/news/gta/int...
November 25, 2025 at 12:48 PM
Not the 2 councillors that I might have predicted at the IntegrityTO launch but also not completely surprising. www.thestar.com/news/gta/int...
Reposted by Shawn Micallef
Also found this ill conceived sidewalk "book depository" in my pics circa 2007
November 25, 2025 at 5:35 AM
Also found this ill conceived sidewalk "book depository" in my pics circa 2007
Reposted by Shawn Micallef
March 2014... world's saddest bookstore :(
November 25, 2025 at 5:29 AM
March 2014... world's saddest bookstore :(
Reposted by Shawn Micallef
Forever memorialized in Short Circuit 2
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Abkb...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Abkb...
Short Circuit 2 - Major Input
YouTube video by nextcent
www.youtube.com
November 25, 2025 at 2:25 AM
Forever memorialized in Short Circuit 2
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Abkb...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Abkb...
Reposted by Shawn Micallef
On this day in 2014 I took this photo of the world’s biggest bookstore.
November 25, 2025 at 1:35 AM
On this day in 2014 I took this photo of the world’s biggest bookstore.
Reposted by Shawn Micallef
A completely predictable outcome, just like the increased death rate we are guaranteed to see next
NEW: Months after many supervised injection sites were shut down, Toronto is reporting an increase in “visible substance use on the street" and “open use of substances in public spaces.” #ToPoli #ONpoli
globalnews.ca/news/1154127...
globalnews.ca/news/1154127...
Toronto reports more visible drug use after supervised injection sites closed down - Toronto | Globalnews.ca
The City of Toronto is reporting an increase in visible drug use in the wake of the Ford government's decision to pull funding for several safe-injection sites earlier this year.
globalnews.ca
November 25, 2025 at 12:09 AM
A completely predictable outcome, just like the increased death rate we are guaranteed to see next
Reposted by Shawn Micallef
I remember that (Doug Ford shouting at people in the gallery at City Hall). youtu.be/i6JLHDXb894?...
Toronto Mayor Rob and brother Doug get in screaming match with public at City Council
YouTube video by The Globe and Mail
youtu.be
November 24, 2025 at 7:29 PM
I remember that (Doug Ford shouting at people in the gallery at City Hall). youtu.be/i6JLHDXb894?...
Man who inherited his dad's company, mom's house, has thoughts.....
(Same belligerence as when he wanted to fight people in the gallery at City Hall)
(Same belligerence as when he wanted to fight people in the gallery at City Hall)
Former CEO of his dad's company has job search tips for the general public.
November 24, 2025 at 7:21 PM
Man who inherited his dad's company, mom's house, has thoughts.....
(Same belligerence as when he wanted to fight people in the gallery at City Hall)
(Same belligerence as when he wanted to fight people in the gallery at City Hall)
Reposted by Shawn Micallef
These long-nosed trucks that are extremely common on our city roads in Canada are “designed for hauling freight on the open road, not for cities.”
Our governments are prioritizing construction industry preferences over safety and more crossing guards, pedestrians, and cyclists will die as result.
Our governments are prioritizing construction industry preferences over safety and more crossing guards, pedestrians, and cyclists will die as result.
Great post on how our unsafe trucks (they’d never be allowed in Europe) kill so many pedestrians, and how our governments and companies do almost nothing about it despite endless safety theatre.
open.substack.com/pub/lloydalt...
open.substack.com/pub/lloydalt...
A crossing guard dies in Hamilton, Ontario, due to regulatory failure and bad design
Meanwhile, in London, the government says, "safe vehicles save lives."
open.substack.com
November 24, 2025 at 6:23 PM
These long-nosed trucks that are extremely common on our city roads in Canada are “designed for hauling freight on the open road, not for cities.”
Our governments are prioritizing construction industry preferences over safety and more crossing guards, pedestrians, and cyclists will die as result.
Our governments are prioritizing construction industry preferences over safety and more crossing guards, pedestrians, and cyclists will die as result.
I walked along a few kms of College St this morning before 9am. Day care drop then carried on. Watched the people push and cycle their kids around, some dad on a cargo bike waved & said hi to some tweens walking in front of me. All very Sesame Street.
And this gov't has contempt for it all.
And this gov't has contempt for it all.
November 24, 2025 at 6:04 PM
I walked along a few kms of College St this morning before 9am. Day care drop then carried on. Watched the people push and cycle their kids around, some dad on a cargo bike waved & said hi to some tweens walking in front of me. All very Sesame Street.
And this gov't has contempt for it all.
And this gov't has contempt for it all.
Reposted by Shawn Micallef
good morning to anyone else who needs to just get a good cry out, here's Emmylou Harris covering The Boxer
www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8Kt...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8Kt...
The Boxer (2002 Remaster)
YouTube video by Emmylou Harris - Topic
www.youtube.com
November 24, 2025 at 12:33 PM
good morning to anyone else who needs to just get a good cry out, here's Emmylou Harris covering The Boxer
www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8Kt...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8Kt...
Reposted by Shawn Micallef
Clean up your mess and pay your bills you greedy deadbeats.
🚨 New polling shows that a supermajority of Albertans want oil & gas companies held accountable for the costs of cleanup, unpaid municipal taxes, and unpaid compensation to landowners. Make polluters pay!!! 🚨 www.cleanupyourmess.ca/polling-pres... #ABLeg #ABPoli #CDNPoli #CleanUpYourMess
New Poll: Supermajority of Albertans want oil and gas companies to cover costs of well cleanup, unpaid municipal taxes and landowner rents
92% support oil and gas companies being responsible for the final clean-up of wells. 87% support the government requiring industry to cover unpaid property taxes to municipalities. 84% support the gov...
www.cleanupyourmess.ca
November 24, 2025 at 4:27 PM
Clean up your mess and pay your bills you greedy deadbeats.
Got back into The Diplomat last night by rewatching finale of S1, where I left off. Such a good piece of TV w a real oomph ending.
November 24, 2025 at 3:07 PM
Got back into The Diplomat last night by rewatching finale of S1, where I left off. Such a good piece of TV w a real oomph ending.