Welcome Back to the Office. You Won’t Get Anything Done Return to office mandates aren’t about output. They’re about asserting control

"The fact that psychological control has become more important to employers than productivity is one of the many paradoxes wrought by capitalism." thewalrusca.substack.com/p/welcome-ba...

Christmas muzak note to self: always queue up podcasts for supermarket shopping in December.

Car trips. And sometimes in the kitchen. Supermarket shopping. Errands.

If only there were some way to incentivize non-car transport. Perhaps protect pedestrians and cyclists, or fund public transport. Oh well.

Here's the thing about this: It isn't a boycott really.

On one level I'm not travelling to the US because of moral objections, sure. But the really powerful factor for me is just a basic risk assessment. The American administration is clearly aggressively hostile to foreigners, and people like me.

U.S. wine export markets have contracted substantially. In April, the year-over-year export value dropped by 41.4%, worsening the 28% decline recorded in March. The three main export destinations for U.S. wine—Canada (-93%), the UK (-29%), and China (-70%)—all reported significant decreases.

There is a theme here of bigotry and xenophobia disguised as mere anti-science. Nazi Germany casting out Jewish science AKA physics in the 1930s was a big part of how the US got ahead in science.

I dream that one day drivers will have the same patience for me crossing the street that they do waiting for a parking spot 10 feet closer to the mall entrance.

A dream.

@quillkukla.bsky.social

Murderbot's Creators on Finding the Right Tone for the Sci-Fi Comedy-Thriller Chris Weitz and Paul Weitz also discussed their close collaborations with star Alexander Skarsgård and Murderbot Diaries author Martha Wells.

gizmodo.com/murderbots-c...

New business ethics syllabus just dropped.
Shareholder theory v. Stakeholder theory playing out in real time.

New business ethics syllabus just dropped.
Shareholder theory v. Stakeholder theory playing out in real time.

Canada also has a Senate, but literally the only interesting thing about it is the goofy carpet.

Like the United States, Canada also has a Supreme Court.

Unlike the United States, Canada's judges dress like Santa Claus. Also, the Supreme Court of Canada has an official owl mascot named Amicus.

And also by Cory Silverberg: "You Know, Sex" www.corysilverberg.com/you-know-sex

Sex is a Funny Word by Cory Silverberg www.corysilverberg.com/sex-is-a-fun...

Why the hell does everything have to happen at once?

I’d given a tiny piece of myself away. That can’t happen. I have too much to hide, and letting one piece go means the rest isn’t as protected.

My high school English teacher complained that students took otherwise acceptable pieces of writing, then poured a jar of spare commas all over the page. T***p does that with punctuation, especially upper case letters.

And also making cyclist pedestrian accidents are significantly less deadly.

Transitioning to fangirl mode.

"What could possibly go wrong", says councilor who, I assume, has never read/watched sci-fi.

You need trust underlying any social contract. And trust is easily broken.

I've been reading Cary Fagan with my 8 year old - Water, Water and Mr Karp so far. I love Erin Bow, but more with my 10 year old.

Yes. Absolutely. This should be leading the news.

This was the play all along.

This was the play all along.

Now would be a great time for the left in Canada to have a serious, coherent agenda that seeks a structural transformation of material life in service of workers, rather than, you know, keyboard warrior emoji shit and first-year undergrad epithets.

Talking to my Toronto LPC MP about this in 2017 was my first hint that she didn't understand the policies she voted on. If Trudeau told her to jump, she only asked "how high?"