Fiona Charles

I got some of mine via guerrilla gardening, surreptitiously dug from the obviously once-loved garden of an empty house awaiting demolition.

Best of luck with them! Sometimes it’s easier to get snowdrops established “in the green”: transplanting live plants, rather than planting bulbs.

The long cold Spring in Southeastern Ontario is definitely beginning! Today, 1st snowdrop tips, & red-winged blackbirds on the river’s edge proclaiming their territory. Yesterday, a raccoon in the garden—to the dog’s great fury—& a flock of geese overhead. Sunday, fragrance of skunk on waking…

Early tips of snowdrop stems, with the white flower bud tightly encased in green leaves, poking through grainy snow. through grainy

Handwritten list from 1993 through 2026, where each entry is a year followed by a day and month.

First sign of snowdrops in my garden. When I added today’s date to my record, I realised I’ve been tracking them for 33 years (with a few lapses & queries), first in our Toronto garden and then in Kingston, from 2015.

“But who do we want to pick what our language is getting changed to?” Wow, what interesting times we live in!

A beige pottery with two handles and a narrow neck, decorated with intricate dark brown patterns depicting a stylized octopus. The vessel is displayed on a white pedestal in a museum setting.

We all need a timeline cleanse right now, so let's start the day with this lovely jug with an octopus motif, dating ca 1200-1100 BC.

On display at National Museum Copenhagen.

A lovely weekend to all of you!

📷 me

🏺
#archaeology

Another horrible violation of international law by the T administration

AI Agents Are Recruiting Humans To Observe The Offline World | NOEMA Agents need us — as sensors, as verifiers, as bearers of liability — in ways we have barely begun to account for.

Excellent piece on what it means when we let agents take over: "the beginning of a world in which people are less in the loop and more on call, less empowered by the technology and more enslaved by its tempo"
Highly recommended read!
www.noemamag.com/ai-agents-ar...

Suburbia is Subsidized: Here's the Math [ST07] YouTube video by Not Just Bikes

WATCH: This is STILL one of the toughest truths for some to accept, but one of the most IMPORTANT — car-dependent suburbia is HEAVILY SUBSIDIZED by downtowns and urban areas!

Watch this excellent video by #NotJustBikes with #Urban3 & @strongtowns.bsky.social.

PLEASE SHARE it as much as possible.

Hold. The. Fucking. Premiers. Accountable.

The Dog that Caught the Car: Britain's 'World-Leading' Internet Billed as a “world-leading” child-protection law, the UK’s Online Safety Act has instead normalized surveillance and ID checks. “Tech policy wonk" Heather Burns writes that the model is spreading acro...

The nation of Orwell leads in Orwellian. The UK wants to make an industry of "identity checks" including that you shouldn't be able to use @wikipedia.org without a passport. How is this not all over my stream? I only heard it via @conjugateprior.org IRL. internet.exchangepoint.tech/the-dog-that...

WTAF! At some not-too-distant point I may have to stop visiting the land of my birth, though I suppose that would resolve my inner debate about whether to renew my British passport. Which I’d thought compulsory, given UK’s new idiocy re dual citizenship.

Free Market Conservatism FTW!!!

“Walkable neighborhoods aren’t scary, they’re convenient.” Picture of a corner coffee shop in Brooklyn street and in a walkable community.

“Car dependency DOESN’T equal freedom. Mobility freedom comes from mobility choice.” Picture of a busy city arterial street filled with car congestion.

Yes, you SHOULD absolutely print off our ads as posters and put them up around your office, home, barber shop, coffee shop…

Plus please just share them A LOT on social media. #UrbanTruth

Painting of two birds interacting while perched on a tree branch, one above the other, one colourful, the other white

Sarah Stone (c. 1759–1844), pioneering English natural history painter, best known for her detailed 18th-century watercolours of exotic birds - the first British female painter of birds and animals to gain professional recognition #womensart

The Huntington Beach City Council needs to read this.

The US is entering the AI dystopia many have long feared, joining a number of countries already there. If the world really reduced to the US, China, and the EU, I'd be terrified now – what are th... The US is entering the AI dystopia many have long feared, joining a number of countries already there. If the world really reduced to the US, China, and the EU, I'd be terrified now – what are the ch...

It's happening again – I wrote a #LinkedIn post about how the US is entering an AI surveillance dystopia. It quickly got 7,8K views, 8 shares, 68 reactions & 11 comments, then suddenly 0. My comment on this has 9 views. This quashing of "wrong" virality also hit X… www.linkedin.com/feed/update/...

Downtown Vancouver separated protected bike-lane filled with people on bikes

Never forget, when you’re being asked to prove that safe bike-lanes or pedestrian crossings across currently unsafe conditions are ‘needed,’ it's hard to justify a bridge by the number of people swimming across a raging river.

I’ve tried to deGoogle: never used Gmail, avoid Chrome & google search if possible, tho my (rarely updated) blog is in blogger. It’s impossible to stay away completely. I’m often obliged to use google tools for client work or collaborating & some podcast apps used for interviews demand Chrome.

we need to talk about that Ring Super Bowl ad

Otter finds a ready-made hole in man's ice-fishing shack 'I could hear a crunching noise coming from under the floor,' said ice-hut owner at Lac des Mille Lacs

otter thanks local anglers for opening a drive-thru restaurant, lol
www.sootoday.com/local-news/o...

@deadder.bsky.social - this one is friggin' awesome!

ICE mobile app scans protester's face, revokes her TSA PreCheck status If you're protesting ICE, it might be a good idea to wear a mask.

ICE mobile app scans protester's face, revokes her TSA PreCheck status
www.sfgate.com/travel/artic...

An inescapable impression, every time I’ve gone door to door with a candidate seeking office, is that many Canadians have little idea which level of government does what, and frequently give politicians credit/blame for stuff over which they have little control.

Rachel Maddow on Hanover County ICE Detention Center YouTube video by Rob McCausland

Please watch and share this. Boycotts, resistance, protests work. In the United States, and Canada too.

Notation Knives: Listen to Cutting Edge Music From the Renaissance It’s not exactly musical chairs, but this Renaissance-era cutlery can carry a tune at any table setting. Dating back to the 16th century, these extremely rare knives are engraved with musical scores complete with lyrics. On one side is a benediction that may have been sung before a meal, and then a grace on theContinue reading "Notation Knives: Listen to Cutting Edge Music From the Renaissance"

These knives, likely produced in Italy around 1550, were part of sets where each knife represented one voice part in a multi-voiced choral piece.

End US/Foreign Interference in Canada
Keep 🇨🇦 Canadian
Sign Petition e-6821 to pass legislation requiring majority Canadian ownership of news media.
✍️: 17,804
⏱️: 18 Feb 2026
Protect Canadian Sovereignty: www.ourcommons.ca/petitions/en...
🍁Vive le Canada🍁

#elbowsup #cdnpoli #canadasky #boycottusa

How to Film ICE Filming federal agents in public is legal, but avoiding a dangerous—even deadly—confrontation isn’t guaranteed. Here’s how to record ICE and CBP agents as safely as possible and have an impact.

NEW: The @wired.com Security desk put together a comprehensive guide to filming ICE—with tips for reducing risk at the forefront. No paywall, but please consider subscribing to help find these kinds of resources. And stay safe out there. www.wired.com/story/how-to...

www.wired.com/v2/offers/wi...

❤️

Trump visits Iowa The Contrarian

Trump visits Iowa
by @deAdder
Substack:
open.substack.com/pub/deadder/...