Idealistic Pragmatist

As of today, I am officially retired! I expect my life to change, well, not at all, at least for now (I was already not teaching because it was summer, I still have my research group, and my last grad student will still be at it for a while), but it’s the beginning of the end, anyway.

This is done and hard to make and each of you is responsible for watching and thinking deeply about the topic and then watching it again 🫠

Video clips from Sunday's #BikeHFX #KidicalMass ride (Oct 25, 2026). Video Description: A large group of children and adults on bicycles some of which are wearing Halloween costumes. The full lane width is occupied by people riding bicycles.

Okay, the conversations I’m currently having about Eurovision are confirming my suspicions that Canadians have NO IDEA what they’re getting themselves into, and I am SO HERE FOR IT

I've been doing the FluWatchers program questionaire for a few years. They asked "Please help us spread the word about FluWatchers! We would love more weekly participants in order to get even more accurate data across Canada. Please share this sign-up link:" public.cnphi-rcrsp.ca/fluWatcher/r....

Fillmore and Purdy vote against this, there are high fives among the helmeted audience members as this passes.

Up now at HRM Council meeting, consideration of the anti-safety staff report. #bikehfx

I just arrived at Halifax City Hall and there are 10 cyclists wearing their helmets. It’s silent protest against a report on alternatives to the AAA bike lane network to be presented to council today.

Not my fault, I walked here (with a bike helmet—yes, I felt a little silly 🤪)!

The "protest"

Last night's fire at the grain elevators at the Halifax dockyard - resolved now - appears to have only been in the tower at the far end of the conveyors, out on the dock, and not near any houses. The actual elevators of grain are far from the water's edge. #HaliSky

My hairdresser tried today to engage me in a conversation about how outrageous it is that parking costs have increased so much in the core. 😳

An update. This is now on the consent agenda as item 15.1.1. In your correspondence, please note that you wish for item 15.1.1 to be removed from the consent agenda for the upcoming Regional Council meeting.

Please contact your councillor about this. Council is talking about this on Tuesday. After being released on a Friday, it's been added to council CONSENT Agenda. What this means is that it could be automatically approved without debate.

Some shots of the adult costumes at the #KidicalMassHFX season finale. Exactly 100 tricked out riders of all ages hit the streets in Dartmouth today and got treated to some hotdogs at the end (grilled, steamed and veggie dogs)

The vast majority of Canadians no longer consider the United States an ally — except Conservatives: 🔴 LPC: 7% 🟠 NDP: 4% ⚜️ BQ: 5% 🔵 CPC: 54%

The biggest loser in this is arguably fans of and players in the NHL… 😄

This is a very comprehensive response from @cyclehalifax.ca Bear in mind this report was discovered just this Friday, so this was an avoidable scramble. Shareable with your councillor. cyclehalifax.ca/advocacy/let...

Distance is a pretty good proxy for walking time… if you’re landlocked, or Jesus.

spread the word

I know there are a dozen reasons not to follow the NHL these days, but the politics of a league that straddles two countries currently locked in a kind of cold war has been utterly fascinating. There are a handful of ongoing stories about individual players caught up in it, and it’s just so juicy.

And as for building being wrapped in plastic... remember to support Da Zero restaurante. They'll be without view but the food and wine will still be grand. Hate to see construction put another place out of business.

Attend this if you can!

When you’re the kind of person who would have to take five minutes to think in order to make a complete list of all the places you’ve lived, the Nova Scotian penchant for assuming that any Come-From-Away must necessarily be “from” the last place they lived is absolutely mind-boggling.

I can say that I am utterly devastated to see the results of the “other nine” questions. The scapegoating of newcomers is about to get a lot worse and that is a loss for all Albertans and Canadians.

Riding by riding list at www.cbc.ca/news/politic... "Alberta" is not Olds-Didsbury, Taber, or Drumheller-Stettler To paraphrase an old referendum slogan, "My Alberta includes Edmonton"

The NSPC govt put more effort into regulating the Morris St bikelane than they did on this entire fucking project.

Reporters @joanbaxter.bsky.social and @dartjenhen.bsky.social on being thrown out of today's EverWind data centre announcement. "You are trespassing, and if I have to call the police right now, I will.” (Jennifer) Henderson quietly responded, “That’s pretty heavy.” No paywall on this one.

HCC is collecting info in a survey about the MacDonald Bridge bikeway. This is to bolster our arguments to the Transportation Standing Committee on Oct 22. Whether you use the bridge bikeway or not, we’d like to hear from you, #bikehfx. Please share widely. forms.gle/QbDTTYuWEirt...

Where I keep my bikes, my socks, my DVDs, and my cat.

Construction trucks leaving Bloor and Islington area after being successfully deterred from starting work on removing bike lanes in Toronto by a large protest.

We complain a lot about drivers on #BikeHFX, so credit where credit is due: this morning one driver honk-scolded another driver from turning into the bike lane in my direct path, and the second driver LISTENED and DIDN’T TURN.

The name-driven viral marketing for this new cafe is very funny. I know TWO non-Canadian visitors who heard about it before coming and automatically put it on their must-visit list. 😄

Photo radar works. In cities where it was removed, speeds went up. Police can't be everywhere. I would rather they focus on stuff that really needs a human. Allowing cameras is the most significant road safety measure the Province could do... too bad there is no will www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Halifax needs work, for sure, but I do not mourn for the Halifax of my teens and 20s (the 1980s and 90s). This city is much, much better than decades ago. There’s so much more to do. In the 90s, the highlight for visitors was to plop a sou’wester on their heads and drag them along to pubs.