On the DEWLine 2.0: Dwight Williams

Amplifying this tonight, just in case it can get to someone who really needs to see it:

https://elainegrey.dreamwidth.org/990198.html

"Petition to the Government of Canada
Whereas:

Passenger rail is a safe, efficient, sustainable, affordable, and accessible mode of public transportation;
Due to federal cutbacks and underinvestment over many years, Canada’s current passenger rail services lag far behind those available in other countries;
Since its creation in 1978, VIA Rail has lacked both the legislative mandate and stable budget necessary to maintain and expand passenger rail service in Canada;
While VIA Rail's on-time performance on tracks it owns is over 90 percent, it is only 60 percent on tracks it shares with other railways;
Rail privatization and outsourcing schemes in other countries have led to higher fares, reduced service, deteriorating safety performance, and lower salaries for workers;
Unlike other public passenger rail providers around the world, VIA Rail lacks representation from passengers and workers on its board of directors; and
In its Corporate Plan, VIA has warned that its long-distance fleet, built in the 1950s, is overdue for replacement, without which it will soon be unable to provide services in Atlantic and Western Canada.

We, the undersigned, Residents of Canada, call upon the Government of Canada to:
1. Incorporate the contents of Bills C-371, the Rail Passenger Priority Act, and C-236/C-640 (41-2) the VIA Rail Canada Act, in a Government Bill and prioritize its passage through the legislative process;
2. Commit, in the 2024 federal budget, the funds necessary to renew VIA Rail’s long-distance fleet;
3. Provide passenger and worker representation on VIA Rail’s board of directors; and
4. Revise the High Frequency Rail project to protect VIA Rail’s role in delivering public passenger rail service along the Windsor to Quebec City corridor."

https://www.ourcommons.ca/petitions/en/Petition/Details?Petition=e-4754

Some of you have already seen and/or shared this one from denise:

https://dw-news.dreamwidth.org/41273.html

Apologies for the repetition. Someone is likely to have this link/notice be their first such, so...

If you're interested in (a) moving to Ottawa and (b) working for a community-owned ISP, you might want to keep an eye on this page belonging to my ISP:

https://www.ncf.ca/en/get-involved/careers/

If you see anything that looks like a good fit for you, please let them know!

So, mcwetboy just posted an item of interest about a person in Val Marie, Saskatchewan who's started up their own map-design/publication shop...and I'm pleased as punch that someone's making a go of such things in as obscure-to-me place as this one.

I can't afford such things myself, but I'm passing word along to my friendlist because I suspect there's people on it with both the money and the interest, and I want to see Alex McPhee succeed at this over the short, medium and long haul!

(Also, going by his Saskatchewan map - which he's taking pre-orders for now - I was definitely born in Treaty 4 territory!)

Passing this link along, obtained via the Canadian Conrunners Central server on Discord. Advice on things to do or to avoid doing in future. As a past member of a convention organizing committee, and possibly to rejoin such in future, I want to make a note to keep such things in mind.

As to the writer of said blog entry:

Stephen Graham Jones is the New York Times bestselling author of The Only Good Indians. He has been an NEA fellowship recipient, has won the Jesse Jones Award for Best Work of Fiction from the Texas Institute of Letters, the Independent Publishers Award for Multicultural Fiction, a Bram Stoker Award, four This is Horror Awards; and has been a finalist for the Shirley Jackson Award and the World Fantasy Award. He is the Ivena Baldwin Professor of English at the University of Colorado Boulder. His next book My Heart Is a Chainsaw will be available wherever books are sold in August 2021.

https://www.tor.com/2021/05/19/open-letter-to-cons-from-the-indians-no-longer-in-the-background-of-a-john-wayne-movie/

I don't know how many of you know of this particular site. It's designed to make its money supporting job searchers looking in the film and TV business, on both sides of the cameras and microphones.

Anyway, it looks like it's beginning a funnelling of employers and workers into six different geographic silos: the US, Canada, the UK, Australia, India and "International" for everyone else on the planet who don't fit into the first five regions. I expect this is partly due to Time of Pandemic and partly due to geopolitical stuff.

Figured you'd be interested. Just in case.

From Sandman, Batwoman and Chase artist J.H. Williams III (no relative, but I wish he were!):

https://twitter.com/JHWilliamsIII/status/1267999811141173249

You may want to download one or more variants of this for your own usage.

This clearly isn't for me. But if you have a friend in Ottawa-Gatineau who's fluent in Indonesian and especially in a legal context, Maxsys is looking to fill two contracts.