On the DEWLine 2.0: Dwight Williams

Consequences of 2025

Tue, 29 Apr 2025 02:32:13 GMT

We held our noses, gritted our teeth and made a choice we're not comfortable with. And yeah, we still need a minority government. If we can't have that, then we need to make our place in this clear. Not have it retroactively defined for us.

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Asymptomatics In Further Danger?

Mon, 16 Jan 2023 00:04:10 GMT

From graydon's Mastodon presence, I believe:

https://mastodon.social/@graydon@canada.masto.host/109695485956755364

And the source for same:

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41423-021-00728-2

*nervous twitching*

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Wed, 21 Dec 2022 14:12:51 GMT

1. Someone sees the work of the Guardian as a threat.

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2022/dec/21/guardian-hit-by-serious-it-incident-believed-to-be-ransomware-attack

2. If you're trying to get in or out of metropolitan Vancouver, Canada, you'll need more patience than usual:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/winter-weather-flight-cancellations-1.6693294

3. Same for Ottawa-Gatineau.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/don-t-travel-this-weekend-if-you-don-t-need-to-opp-says-1.6692802

4. Mon-Fri 9-5 may be over for many, but what's taking its place in the federal civil service may be problematic in other ways for the staff as much as for the public. Especially in Ottawa-Gatineau where we don't have mask rules back in place yet.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/federal-departments-hybrid-directive-responses-1.6692401

5. The Convoy Siege of Ottawa continues to have consequences for a lot of people living here.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/zexi-li-freedom-convoy-year-in-review-1.6205324

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"Space is Part of the Land"

Mon, 05 Dec 2022 13:56:01 GMT

Noting this for ongoing discussion...and Musk is clearly enmeshed in this particular mess, by our settler-nations' encouragement.

https://apt613.ca/space-is-part-of-the-land-indigenous-knowledges-and-colonization-by-light-and-satellite-pollution/

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Canada: Danielle Smith vs. Canadian Unity and Democracy

Wed, 30 Nov 2022 02:14:13 GMT

Danielle Smith and the self-described United Conservative Party are going to war against the Canadian constitution here. Whether they believe that of what they're doing or not.

I am minded of Timothy Snyder's 17th piece of advice from On Tyranny...

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/alberta-premier-danielle-smith-sovereignty-act-1.6668175

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Advice on Employment

Thu, 09 Jun 2022 19:45:17 GMT

Here's mine:

Always expect to be dragged off-course from what you expected and trained to do for a living.

Inspired by a contest put together by the Algonquin College Alumni Association.

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Post-Ottawa Siege: The Tomb of the Unknown and the Consequences of the Siege

Mon, 21 Feb 2022 18:40:34 GMT

Since moving to Ottawa with my parents back in 1985, I occasionally used to use the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier here in Ottawa as an informal, outdoor confessional site. To air out my self-doubts, concerns, fears, grievances, hopes, etc.. Before certain fools used the National War Memorial as an outdoor urinal on the evening of Canada Day 2006.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/charge-dropped-for-man-who-urinated-on-national-war-memorial-1.670903

Because of that first instance, the honour guard from May to November that Cpl. Nathan Cirillo was killed as part of in 2014 was instituted. A friend of mine had the horrible luck to be there to witness that shooting when it happened.

https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/first-person-at-the-war-memorial/

(Sidebar: that particular friend went on to run the local SF publisher Bundoran Press until its end early in Pandemic times.)

And now we're rolling up the Ottawa Siege, and dealing with consequences. Such as one documented by Evan Solomon:

https://twitter.com/EvanLSolomon/status/1495448514448527364

I cannot help but think that the honour guard is now going to be a year-round thing, and that my days of using the Tomb of the Unknown as an outdoor confessional during the winter months are about to end. It is a selfish thought, yes, and I own it as such.

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Air Quality and Class Action Stuff

Fri, 18 Feb 2022 23:39:00 GMT

Ecological consequences:

https://twitter.com/JaroGiesbrecht/status/1494407970850934796

As regards the class action lawsuit in the works:

https://twitter.com/Justin_Ling/status/1494651217112449028

If you live, run a business, work(ed) inside the affected areas, you are a potential class member. At least that's my understanding of Paul Champ's statements to the news services.

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RADIO: The House - 8 May 2021

Sat, 08 May 2021 13:23:10 GMT

Listening to this on the radio right now:

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/thehouse/cbc-the-house-may-8-2021-1.6017783

Needing to think through the implications raised by the discussions aired today...

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Entertainment-Making in Ottawa

Sat, 06 Feb 2021 23:55:01 GMT

So this has also been going on here in Ottawa in places where I wasn't looking, when I wasn't visiting. Check out the report:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/film-tv-production-ottawa-pandemic-1.5898243

If you watched last week's episode of Coroner on CBC/Gem, you've likely gotten some sense of what's involved in making shows in safer ways than usual. The logistics and workplace safety protocols are more complex now. And people still need entertainment for sanity-maintenance's sake.

For myself, I'm not binge-watching. I've been too busy looking for steadier work, and these past two weeks, actually working. I haven't given myself the time or the permission to do otherwise. And once this current contract wraps up, I won't dare to. Not with the current UI claim on its way to wrapping up in a few months with few prospects yet. (Barring any further truly helpful surprises from either Parliament Hill or Queens Park, akin to those I've gotten this past year. Or from the non-profit or private sectors. Which I can't rule out.)

But some of you might have ideas that could translate into paying work for people here in the film and TV business...and you might want to keep this site bookmarked, too:

https://ottawa.film/

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How DO we "build back better"?

Wed, 02 Dec 2020 01:12:43 GMT

I'm listening to this installment of Ideas on CBC Radio One as I type this:

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/in-a-covid-divided-world-how-to-avoid-drift-into-a-new-normal-1.5823611

Some of you are already working on your ideas of building a better "normal" than we had before the Pandemic in Progress, I know...

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US POLITICS: Taking Heart In Something Big

Sat, 07 Nov 2020 17:16:11 GMT

So Biden is declared the president-elect by the world's news services now.

So now, we celebrate and prepare to both build upon that victory and fight off whatever rage against that victory yet comes our way.

And 2022 is coming. And so are the further consequences of climate derangement. And the new fascist international isn't done trying to murder the rest of us yet (with or without help from climate derangement)!

In Klingon: qapla'!

In English: Good luck!

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CBC: Ideas - A Search for the Common Good

Mon, 07 Sep 2020 18:09:16 GMT

Listening to this one at the moment:

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/our-futurecestors-deserve-a-voice-in-today-s-decisions-says-author-1.5710902

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Consequences of Pandemic, Continued

Fri, 10 Jul 2020 02:30:00 GMT

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/02/business/covid-economy-parents-kids-career-homeschooling.html

https://www.wired.com/story/larry-brilliant-on-how-well-are-we-fighting-covid-19/

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PANDEMIC/BIZNEWS: Impact on Airlines?

Sun, 24 May 2020 13:25:13 GMT

They're actually going in for fleet reductions at the airlines, aren't they?

Ranging from the optimistic - from airlines' management and investors' POV - to the drastic:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/willhorton1/2020/04/14/airlines-retire-aircraft-but-its-not-as-bad-as-you-think--covid-19-perspective/#33b829b71f6f

https://thepointsguy.com/news/american-airlines-accelerates-boeing-757-767-retirements-due-to-coronavirus/

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/15/american-airlines-cuts-international-capacity-by-75percent-as-demand-collapses.html

https://business.financialpost.com/transportation/airlines/air-canada-posts-adjusted-quarterly-loss-on-pandemic-woes

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NEWS: And We Think We Have Problems?

Fri, 24 Apr 2020 00:44:13 GMT

Climate derangement don't care about any coronavirus.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/tuktoyaktuk-homes-relocated-pandemic-1.5542057

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Karma at the US SecNav Office?

Tue, 07 Apr 2020 23:59:49 GMT

Looks like Mr. Modly took the clue. Did someone send him an actual sword, as in the Romulan mythologies?

https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/acting-navy-secretary-thomas-modly-offers-to-resign_n_5e8cd044c5b6e1a2e0fb27ef?ri18n=true

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CBC: Immunization vs. Conspiracy Theories

Thu, 02 Apr 2020 18:16:59 GMT

Listening to this as I check the job boards this afternoon:

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/what-shakespeare-can-teach-us-about-conspiracy-theories-today-1.5516289

I am definitely pleased with Nahlah Ayed's first months as the new host-narrator of Ideas.

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Fri, 28 Feb 2020 14:51:43 GMT

So my riding stays "red" in Canadian political parlance.

*sigh*

We could have chosen better, I think, but...we didn't choose worse in sufficient numbers to make things even worse either, I suppose. I'll have to settle for that, for now.

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MAC/TECH: Intuos 4 Needs New "Pen"

Fri, 28 Feb 2020 00:19:29 GMT

I managed, just a few minutes ago at this writing, to accidentally dismantle the pen that came with my current tablet. It's a PTK-640, which I bought about ten years ago. So...looking for a solution that preferably doesn't entail recycling the rest of the tablet or anything else deemed financially intolerable for someone between day jobs.

Update 1: There may be a solution in hand by Saturday. Stay tuned.

Update 2: The solution is in hand. Thanks be to the Ottawa Comic Jam network of artists.

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MAPS/SCIENCE: Damming the North Sea

Sun, 23 Feb 2020 02:16:31 GMT

Some of us have been discussing this proposal elsewhere, if memory serves:

https://bigthink.com/strange-maps/north-sea-dam

No, it's not going to be a panacea. It won't cure ills, but it will slow down some of the worsening consequences whilst deferring them to other places. And it will exact costs in other ways. The British Isles, however their borders are redrawn in the decades ahead, will still lose cities, towns, villages, farms, businesses...as will continental Europe outside the dams now containing/shielding/distorting the North Sea. Building this NEED project will be a consequence that creates consequences.

Building it will require the European Union to go from a coalition of nations to being a nation. If it hasn't already gotten there by the time the decision to build is taken.

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Due South Creator vs. MeToo

Sat, 28 Dec 2019 05:27:16 GMT

The fact that it's Due South fandom's moment of trauma and truth - a fandom I am part of - is a sidebar in this, I expect. But because he created that TV series that made such a splash in Canada before going on to bigger things...

As we're seeing with Harry Potter's creator for other reasons, the creations are often going to prove better than their creators.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/27/arts/paul-haggis-appeal-ruling.html

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Meanwhile in Canada...

Fri, 13 Dec 2019 11:06:15 GMT

I hope that this is good news, and that we won't get bitten by the consequences later.

Canada's Conservatives just got Andrew Scheer's walking papers.

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ENERGY: 3-D Printing Reactors?

Mon, 02 Dec 2019 02:25:33 GMT

From the US Energy Department's Twitter account:

https://twitter.com/ENERGY/status/1201167651533406208

Seriously? Now?

And on a related note here in Canada...

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/group-of-premiers-band-together-to-develop-nuclear-reactor-technology-1.5380316

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HOCKEY: In Case It Matters

Thu, 14 Nov 2019 02:29:22 GMT

Don Cherry was fired two decades too late. All of the symptoms we needed to recognize were clearly visible back then.

That's what I think.

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