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garysmith.bsky.social
Toronto, Ontario, Canada 🍁 Web development: garysmith.ca Writing: https://garyesmith.substack.com/ Painting: citypainter.ca
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I... oh my god. amandaguinzburg.substack.com/p/diabolus-e...

Hard to think of a clear depiction of climate politics in Canada than provincial premiers calling for more pipelines and deregulation of oil and gas development as climate-amplified wildfires rage in their own provinces. #cdnpoli

WCK's Relief Team is mobilizing in Canada, where 1.7 million acres of land in Saskatchewan and Manitoba provinces have been scorched by wildfires. Thousands of families have evacuated their homes, and first responders are working to contain the blazes. Read more: wck.org/en-us/news/canada-wildfires

"Toronto is a fitting sister city to Buffalo; they share a reputation as low-key cool." Yeah, nice try, still not crossing the border.

"Extinct" sounds pretty extreme, until you remember that the suggestion is simply to make billionaires extinct by turning them into people with hundreds of millions of dollars in the bank. They would survive quite nicely for an extinct species.

My limited experiences on Spain's high speed rail lines have been positive -- I'd kill for anything similar in Canada. But it might become a victim of its own success.

The funniest editorial about genocide I read today.

Of the brainy tech writers I've recently started following, Leah Reich may be my favorite, writing pieces that leave me thoughtful rather than grouchy.

Is the Esplanade not, like, the canonical ideal of the “side street” where the anti-bike crowd say bike lanes should go? There’s no appeasing these people. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

"If your friend insults you, you don't give them $10 and go back to being friends"

This is kind of a good problem to have. Years ago I thought Doors Open would be a niche thing and I would be one of the only people who cared about seeing inside random Toronto buildings. It was great to see how wrong I was, and how many other Torontonians are also eager to explore our city.

"Crisis... is an attempt to dislodge us from a toxic status quo and constitutes an insistent call to rebuild our lives on a more authentic and sincere basis." This is deeply assuring: www.themarginalian.org/2021/10/13/a...

We made it to the new St Lawrence North Market for Doors Open, and it was worth it for the great views of the neighbourhood from the 5th floor courts. But the interior finishings on the building were very... functional, to put it politely. $100m+ doesn't buy many frills these days, I guess.

"But he cautioned against being overly precious about the value of deeply understanding one’s code, which is no longer necessary to ensure that it works." Oh.

"European airlines are freezing their transatlantic growth and pulling back from major U.S. cities like New York, Miami, Los Angeles, and Chicago as they redirect flights to Canada, Mexico, Brazil and Caribbean, where bookings are rising and demand is outpacing the American market."

Nobody's ever really captured, to my satisfaction, the way that the internet -- though it promises infinitude, all of human experience & history & art & thought in one place -- has instead produced a kind of narrowing & flattening of experience, made the world seem *less* magic & full of wonder.

Average Toronto subway station not even a decade after opening:

"A lot of hard work and sleepless nights led me here. I've been waiting a long time for this." The lineup card is going to Dad 💙 Congrats on your first @MLB win, Braydon Fisher!

Incredible. Nice enclosed shelter for the parking payment machine, unsheltered bench for the bus stop. Really succinct statement of priorities. (Chapel Hill, NC)

My latest painting in my Night Windows series is a glimpse into an old Victorian building near Queen St East and Broadview Avenue in Toronto. Oil on board, 8" x 10". More: www.citypainter.ca/paintings/ni...

For $117 you get the "Wrodpress" website you deserve, I suppose. But on a serious note, how can actual humans compete with this shit. I used to make a living at this stuff.

On saturday I bought a "pro" squeegee & yesterday stuck it out the wretched Toronto-special bottom sliders here & cleaned the windows at an awkward angle. The world is in HD again. I just stare out the windows, satisfied. A pain in the ass but window cleaning improves mood like not much else.