On the DEWLine 2.0: Dwight Williams

Interesting to see what's being done re: newspapers elsewhere.

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2023/apr/12/dozens-of-independent-newspapers-launched-during-covid-in-australia-what-happened-next

Should I finally drop my subscription?

https://www.thestar.com/business/2022/11/24/jordan-bitove-to-take-ownership-of-the-toronto-star.html

I wrote a letter to the editor at the Ottawa Citizen today complaining about right-wing debt scolds complaining about the lack of disrespect for the needs of the debt-chained.

No idea if it's going to be published. Ever.

The text:

After reading the opinions of Sharon Moren as published in the 17 September edition, I am left with an anger that I still cannot hope to be rid of.

Thanks to people who think like her, including Pierre Poilievre whom she praises for being a fellow debt-scold, as well as Stephen Harper, Doug Ford, Mike Harris and so many more of like mind in federal and provincial government across these past decades - and I note that I'm just speaking of Ontario here for now - there is no escape from financial rainy days for far too many of the rest of us. Those days are now with us constantly, leaving no difference between "need" and "want" anymore, no room to plan for whatever futures are still left. And still these debt-scolds blame their prey for being preyed upon.

Enough of this.

We need Universal Basic Income. If only because it costs money to look for work, however you find yourself ending up without work, and because it costs money to live while you're looking. And if unable to work, disability supports have to be there for you in addition to UBI, and not clawed back from it! And for those able to work and actively holding down jobs, a true living wage rather than a minimum wage that's still below the poverty line.

This would be a start on getting back to a place where we could all make a distinction between "need" and "want" again.

Enough from debt-scolds and austerity-pushers!

Canada got a bit of a shock last night: Carol Off is ending 16 years as co-host of As It Happens on CBC Radio at the end of next month. Hers is a voice I've gotten used to hearing on the radio, of course, being a longtime CBC listener. The series will continue, of course, well into what we hope is its next full half-century.

The town of Tilbury, Ontario is getting a pleasant shock of its own: they're going to have a newspaper of their own again. Mohsin Abbas, a journalist originally from Pakistan now calling Canada home, is doing the work to make that happen for the Tilbury Times, liberating the brand - so we hope - from Postmedia control. The CBC News report goes into a lot more detail about Tilbury, Mr. Abbas, and the process of rescue and revival.

I'm done with shopping for the afternoon, and getting laundry underway. That's expected to be a short chore.

In the meantime, I've tried to set up my digital subscription to the Toronto Star, partly because retail delivery to my closest grocery outlet is stalled today, partly due to the need to support democracy in general, and partly due to tax advantages. I would much prefer the hardcopy edition being delivered to my door, but that seems to be a problem for the Star to arrange for Ottawa subscribers in general these days. One wonders how closely they're tracking digital subscription stats by hometown. Might there be a "tripwire" number that - if achieved - they start looking at arranging home hardcopy delivery for qualifying communities?

Problem: I get this message when I make the attempt...

CityID field contained invalid characters. (19)
There was an error creating your order. If this problem persists please contact customer service.

I've e-mailed their circulation desk about that issue and hope to get useful information soon.

I would also much prefer a locally-owned newspaper operating in tune with the Atkinson Principles, as either a subscriber, a prospective employee, or both. (This isn't the first time I've mentioned that topic here.) Seeing as both major anglophone daily papers in Ottawa-Gatineau are currently owned by Postmedia, that's not going to happen unless Postmedia is broken up or the major chartered banks have an attack of social responsibility on a grander scale than I'm used to.

More on this topic another time. Hopefully soon.

I did a potentially foolish thing this afternoon.

I went to Perfect Books to pick up my copy of Rob Sawyer's Oppenheimer Alternative. Rob had a lot of fun and some eye-opening research moments in putting that book together, and I know he was looking forward to the promotional trail to support it once it hit the bookstores. Alas, Pandemic didn't and still doesn't give a damn about any of our plans. Including Rob's.

So, it's been months since the release, and I finally found financial room for this book a couple of weeks ago. But I put off picking it up until today. The delay was due mainly to the lockdowns' influence. Perfect Books is in the middle of Centretown, and I live out in Orléans. Which meant an Expedition. Bus and O-Train ride, both ways. In "normal" times, I wouldn't give this a second thought.

Anyway, I took that risk today. Perfect Books, then checking in on Randy Pippus and his games shop, Fandom II on Laurier West near the OPL Main Branch. Stop at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier to unburden my sense of guilt, as I sometimes do during the winter months when there's no honor guard on duty to overhear me. Then walking up to Chapters Rideau to window-shop, and over to Globe Mags and Cigars for today's newspapers, and dropping in on some friends running another shop in the Market before catching the O-Train and bus back home.

I got some decent walking exercise today. I probably risked more than ten lives of people whose names are definitely known to me in the process. A lot more whose names I don't know, surely.

These trips haven't backfired yet that I know of...and I'm paranoically certain that one of them will.

The Orléans Star and L'Orléanais.

http://www.orleansonline.ca/

http://www.orleansonline.ca/Orleanais/index.htm

I'd like to see them get through this on a continuing basis.

Updating my cleverphone apps now that I've got my shopping, banking and newspapers in hand for the day. I'm a bit annoyed at having put off the newspapers as that meant I missed The Globe and Mail but that can't be helped.

Also, only mildly surprised that my preferred bank branch is closed on this particular Saturday, but at least I was able to confirm that I could get my bus pass topped up for next month. Just in case.

Job search question: who here knows anything beyond Wikipedia reports and the company website about a Vertex Venture Holdings company? I got a text message from someone claiming to represent them on my cleverphone asking if I was interested in an online interview. Is this really part of their normal hiring routine?

His photo from Fort Lauderdale got picked up by Associated Press, and from there...

...Christie Blatchford is no more.

As a consumer of the works of many newspaper columnists from across Canada and the wider worlds, I don't know yet what I make of that. She hasn't been one I've followed closely in recent years. So "indifferent" might be a good adjective for my opinion right now. Some of you in my audience will have other opinions...?