@jfmezei @chris

Nice that they are at least thinking of doing something, but I feel as though another study might better serve by being amalgamated with all the other studies and being incorporated as ballast in a revitalized VI Rail that actually functions.

@pinhman @chris
Recall a tale of woe from Michigan, I believe Lansing SD basically contracted itself out to a private entity that then failed to produce the level of dividends demanded by shareholders who then sold off their holdings and the company went bankruptm leaving Lansing with no schools. Cautionary tale, certainly, heeded by few. The same holds true for health, transport, military and infrastructure of all types...if you add a percentage for private profit, It will cost more. If there is no add-on profit, corps will find savings on worker salaries, quality of necessary goods, and time and resources devoted to task. Digging down, we have to have a rethink about how we generate "investment", who gets to create money, and for what, and who benefits and to what extent from the business of civilization. Failing this, we will fail to solve crises of poverty, homelessness, political gridlock, voter apathy, pollution, mental health and addictions, overconsumption, and, for heaven's sake, climate disruption.

Here's a better link to Wendell Berry's reflections on life following September 11, 2001. Still seems utterly relevant:
https://orionmagazine.org/article/thoughts-in-the-presence-of-fear/

@chris
Darlene's apples have been transformed. This came from a tree dug up at Darlene's en piteux état last winter that has flourished intra muros hereabouts. Small jars headed to grand daughter's for school year desserts.Somewhat runty apples. but lovely sweet and floral taste.

Have had this conversation with both friends and family, to wit, that some of us cashed a weird promissary note from society by being born when, where, and to whom we were. I grew up nominally poor, but rich in family love, friendly connections, fresh air and adjacent hills to roam, a functioning school system, and the ability to support my endeavours at a young age, leading to a career start with less than $1000 debt and a degree of stability that would be the envy of those entering the field today. The list goes on, and though I worked hard throughout my career and did my best to embrace change when it seemed reasonable, a lot of my good fortune was due to dumb luck, and there is considerably less of that on offer than there was when I was a young punk. As I spin down my life trajectory, it looms large to think that I (we all) need to create conditions that will promote both individual and collective well-being, in particular, today, as we stare down a tsunami of economic nastiness at home and abroad. Doctorow's piece nails it and echoes through the past, and, hopefully, into the future.

https://pluralistic.net/2026/08/21/world-historic-forces/

#wildfire @chris

A constructive thought that might be shared with DJT.

https://thenarwhal.ca/diy-air-purifier-wildfire-smoke/

In BC, we're riddled with the development disease, and the rush to torpedo DRIPA is as good an indicator as one might want. It appears as though the RE developer/Miner/Logger axis will tolerate no impediment to the exploitation of absolutely everything and the sequestration in private and privileged hands of anything of worth. It seems to gall the greedy particularly that the impediment is a people who were here first and who were supposed to have been disenfranchised and subsumed into the underclass. Just ask Keith Baldrey.

@saranewmountain @doughnuteconomics

DE is incompatible with our current economic/social/ environmental processes, and so will necessitate major upheaval along with the shift in attitude that will do away with the idea that economic "growth" is desirable and that we can continue to exploit resources without restraint. Let's do this!

Wanna fix yer housing problems? I read about this in The Great Transformation (Karl Polanyi) thirty years ago, but Norm's post encapsulates it so even politicians ought to be able to understand.
https://in-sights.ca/2025/12/16/lessons-from-vienna-rethinking-vancouvers-housing-affordability/

a-Maryllis Monday? Blustery, wet outside, we got this from a friend.

Linked at RossK's Pacific Gazetteer, a
TechDirt story about Chattanooga, Tennessee, reaping billions in benefits from providing 25-gigabit fibre access to local citizens at reasonable cost. More of us need to wrest control of the underlying infrastructure of communications from the rapacity of the telecom giants, along with all the other areas of necessary or essential endeavour.
https://www.techdirt.com/2025/12/10/chattanooga-saw-billions-in-economic-benefits-after-building-a-community-owned-fiber-broadband-network/

Out harvesting poratoes and greens for a frittata and this caught my eye (pretty nice for November),

@chris
This came up on Cathie From Canada's site, via RossK's blogroll at The Pacific Gazetteer:

@obrien_kat @chris I like it when the shadows in our living room are aligned vertical at noon, which, I think, was part of the original rationale for the establishment of time zones. I also appreciate a bit of morning light that returns with the shift back to standard time.

@chris
Re: apple pie
This is a look at some of what Dame Erica lifted from the yard yesterday, given that she was in a bit of a white tornado mode with regard to some of the "summer" crops.

Sunday dinner, and the whole kitchen is redolent of apples and cinnamon as this beauty finishes up in the oven before the baker toddles off to church. We will also harvest the last of the corn from the garden to go with a garden salad and pasta with home made tomato sauce. With all the upset and foolishness in the wider world, it's so nice to snap back to this, food, family, fresh air.

No system works if the people running the show make a determined effort to pervert it for their benefit unless there is a massive and coordinated opposition working to protect its integrity. I think this little graphic sums it up simply.

All systems of government are dependent on a sense of fair play, popular will and accountability. Currently, France is not benefitting from any of these, and they are hardly alone.

Part of what's amazing about Lehrer's oeuvre is how much of it dates from the late '40s and early '50s and remains relevant today. Also, it's hard to perceive how out there he was at the time because of all the ground-breaking comedy that has happened in the intervening years (decades), almost all of which achieved much broader exposure. Before my family went off in all directions and started dying off, Lehrer's songs often got quoted on the occasion of clan gatherings, and it was not rare that several of us would leave off the pun wars for an interlude of complete Poisoning Pigeons or the song about Fiesta time in old Mexico, complete with between-song patter.

@Mikal
I've often had the feeling that if we ceased to mess up other people's patches, they might be less inclined to seek a better life far from home. I haven't seen much work done on helping to create vibrant societies in Latin America, Africa, SE Asia, and now, even in our own territory.

@chris #canpoli #cdnpoli #elxn45

https://jojofromjerz.substack.com/p/elbows-up-canada