Alison
@alisonburnis.bsky.social
Occasional writer, intermittent artist. Red lipstick enthusiast. Likes cake. Current academic librarian, former hospital librarian. Atlantic Canada. She/her/elle.
Pinned
Alison
@alisonburnis.bsky.social
· Sep 10
Hello! It’s time to update my introduction post (at least, in my mind).
I’m Alison. I’m a writer, artist, reader, and now a knitter. I’m also the cataloguing and metadata librarian at Saint Mary’s University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
This is my cat, Mallow. She’s the best cat.
I’m Alison. I’m a writer, artist, reader, and now a knitter. I’m also the cataloguing and metadata librarian at Saint Mary’s University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
This is my cat, Mallow. She’s the best cat.
Reposted by Alison
You’re cutting funding for Women and Gender Equality Canada by 51% over 3 years.
Today marks the beginning of 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence.
Every Canadian deserves to be free from violence. This is not just a moral imperative — it is key to building a safer and more equitable Canada for everyone.
Every Canadian deserves to be free from violence. This is not just a moral imperative — it is key to building a safer and more equitable Canada for everyone.
November 26, 2025 at 1:52 AM
You’re cutting funding for Women and Gender Equality Canada by 51% over 3 years.
Reposted by Alison
he fell victim to one of the classic blunders! the most famous of which is, ‘never answer the phone for isaac chotiner,’ but only slightly less well-known is this: ‘never behave in a manner which causes derek guy to critique your fashion choices’
can't believe this ancient mesopotamia shoe wearing ass said people need to dress up at the airport
November 26, 2025 at 2:12 AM
he fell victim to one of the classic blunders! the most famous of which is, ‘never answer the phone for isaac chotiner,’ but only slightly less well-known is this: ‘never behave in a manner which causes derek guy to critique your fashion choices’
Reposted by Alison
I cringe every time someone says "librarians should run the world!" like they're a whimsical moral caste of people instead of just people in a regular job, and who may think your cutesy praise is patronizing, actually.
November 26, 2025 at 4:42 AM
I cringe every time someone says "librarians should run the world!" like they're a whimsical moral caste of people instead of just people in a regular job, and who may think your cutesy praise is patronizing, actually.
Reposted by Alison
Another good reason to avoid being on X is that Isaac Chotiner could start asking you questions there at any time
November 25, 2025 at 3:19 PM
Another good reason to avoid being on X is that Isaac Chotiner could start asking you questions there at any time
My MIL is a very social and well-connected person. It was impossible to do anything in New Brunswick without bumping into her influence. (This was not a bad thing!)
Last fall, my in-laws moved to Halifax. Tonight, a friend messaged to say she met my MIL. We’re right on schedule.
Last fall, my in-laws moved to Halifax. Tonight, a friend messaged to say she met my MIL. We’re right on schedule.
November 26, 2025 at 12:42 AM
My MIL is a very social and well-connected person. It was impossible to do anything in New Brunswick without bumping into her influence. (This was not a bad thing!)
Last fall, my in-laws moved to Halifax. Tonight, a friend messaged to say she met my MIL. We’re right on schedule.
Last fall, my in-laws moved to Halifax. Tonight, a friend messaged to say she met my MIL. We’re right on schedule.
Reposted by Alison
I once asked a bookseller at a large indie store how many people would have to buy a book for it to get the attention of the store buyer and cause an additional order and they said: Three.
I see some book piracy discourse, and, to make a positive argument in favor of buying books, your marginal ability to influence what books get published and support the careers of writers you like is massive compared to most other forms of media.
November 25, 2025 at 11:07 PM
I once asked a bookseller at a large indie store how many people would have to buy a book for it to get the attention of the store buyer and cause an additional order and they said: Three.
Reposted by Alison
Colleen Jones asked me to interview her a couple of months ago during a chemotherapy appointment.
She told me to write one heck of a story. I hope I did her proud.
About always believing something wonderful is about to happen.
My tribute to Colleen: www.cbc.ca/sports/olymp...
She told me to write one heck of a story. I hope I did her proud.
About always believing something wonderful is about to happen.
My tribute to Colleen: www.cbc.ca/sports/olymp...
Colleen Jones was something wonderful to happen for anyone who knew her | CBC Sports
Colleen Jones was a tour de force. When you were with her you felt invincible and that anything was possible. She made you a believer.
www.cbc.ca
November 25, 2025 at 9:45 PM
Colleen Jones asked me to interview her a couple of months ago during a chemotherapy appointment.
She told me to write one heck of a story. I hope I did her proud.
About always believing something wonderful is about to happen.
My tribute to Colleen: www.cbc.ca/sports/olymp...
She told me to write one heck of a story. I hope I did her proud.
About always believing something wonderful is about to happen.
My tribute to Colleen: www.cbc.ca/sports/olymp...
Reposted by Alison
Amazing to learn that Isaac Chotiner can apparently just come for you in your replies. Like suddenly realizing you're swimming in open ocean
November 25, 2025 at 3:48 PM
Amazing to learn that Isaac Chotiner can apparently just come for you in your replies. Like suddenly realizing you're swimming in open ocean
We had a two hour working meeting today where my contributions were largely complaining about the lack of standardized vocabulary for basically everything we were talking about.
November 24, 2025 at 10:57 PM
We had a two hour working meeting today where my contributions were largely complaining about the lack of standardized vocabulary for basically everything we were talking about.
I’m really fortunate that my job overall doesn’t have a lot of iron-clad time slots where I have to be somewhere to do something specific. However, I have a bunch of them this week, which also happens to be the week we’re closing on our house.
November 24, 2025 at 5:01 PM
I’m really fortunate that my job overall doesn’t have a lot of iron-clad time slots where I have to be somewhere to do something specific. However, I have a bunch of them this week, which also happens to be the week we’re closing on our house.
Reposted by Alison
nostalgia is a scam invented by big new to sell more old
November 19, 2025 at 7:29 PM
nostalgia is a scam invented by big new to sell more old
Reposted by Alison
November 23, 2025 at 11:27 PM
Reposted by Alison
Impossible how good reading is. You mean I just point my face at the paper for a bit and it does a whole update on my brain?
November 23, 2025 at 1:52 PM
Impossible how good reading is. You mean I just point my face at the paper for a bit and it does a whole update on my brain?
Reposted by Alison
I once knew a Federal bank examiner, and one time someone asked him why we had to KEEP inspecting banks over and over. He basically said every new batch of business school grads invents bank fraud from first principles.
AirBnB CEO calling it “vibe revenue” just 👨🍳 😘
The underlying cause of every bubble - debt masquerading as financial innovation - depends on not just short financial memory & speculative neophytism, but reinventing jargon of finance, like how each generation of kids has new ways to say same things.
The underlying cause of every bubble - debt masquerading as financial innovation - depends on not just short financial memory & speculative neophytism, but reinventing jargon of finance, like how each generation of kids has new ways to say same things.
November 22, 2025 at 6:02 PM
I once knew a Federal bank examiner, and one time someone asked him why we had to KEEP inspecting banks over and over. He basically said every new batch of business school grads invents bank fraud from first principles.
Reposted by Alison
it is absolutely the tech companies fault that people now assume they’re doing something evil and sneaky even when they actually aren’t (regarding the latest Google kerfuffle)
like, no kidding that people have zero willingness to cut big tech the benefit of the doubt anymore
like, no kidding that people have zero willingness to cut big tech the benefit of the doubt anymore
November 23, 2025 at 8:33 AM
it is absolutely the tech companies fault that people now assume they’re doing something evil and sneaky even when they actually aren’t (regarding the latest Google kerfuffle)
like, no kidding that people have zero willingness to cut big tech the benefit of the doubt anymore
like, no kidding that people have zero willingness to cut big tech the benefit of the doubt anymore
Reposted by Alison
Snow Shadows
Tom Thomson
1916
Tom Thomson
1916
November 22, 2025 at 8:30 PM
Snow Shadows
Tom Thomson
1916
Tom Thomson
1916
After two weekends where working on something that involves a large hole in the ground on Gottingen blocked my parking garage, this weekend they’ve finally sectioned out the driveway to the garage so we can use it. A miracle.
November 22, 2025 at 4:24 PM
After two weekends where working on something that involves a large hole in the ground on Gottingen blocked my parking garage, this weekend they’ve finally sectioned out the driveway to the garage so we can use it. A miracle.
We’ve been soft-launching this news with cat stories: we close on our first house in less than a week!
I know I said I would never move in December again but I wasn’t intending to be a liar, it just happened.
I know I said I would never move in December again but I wasn’t intending to be a liar, it just happened.
The cat is currently zooming around the apartment, seriously delighted by the stacks of boxes to climb on (packed) and those to play in (ones we haven’t packed yet because she took a shine to them). She is thriving in this chaos.
November 22, 2025 at 1:40 PM
We’ve been soft-launching this news with cat stories: we close on our first house in less than a week!
I know I said I would never move in December again but I wasn’t intending to be a liar, it just happened.
I know I said I would never move in December again but I wasn’t intending to be a liar, it just happened.
Reposted by Alison
There is one more post to be written here, about how AI is now often an austerity technology, inserted into a human process to compensate for the fact that there is just not enough time and money, and many workers are expected to do more and more with less and less.
November 21, 2025 at 7:59 AM
There is one more post to be written here, about how AI is now often an austerity technology, inserted into a human process to compensate for the fact that there is just not enough time and money, and many workers are expected to do more and more with less and less.
The cat is currently zooming around the apartment, seriously delighted by the stacks of boxes to climb on (packed) and those to play in (ones we haven’t packed yet because she took a shine to them). She is thriving in this chaos.
November 22, 2025 at 11:58 AM
The cat is currently zooming around the apartment, seriously delighted by the stacks of boxes to climb on (packed) and those to play in (ones we haven’t packed yet because she took a shine to them). She is thriving in this chaos.
Reposted by Alison
Reposted by Alison
Yesterday was a great day to have a stamp unveiled by Canada Post! Rural places like mine depend so much on CP, we support the workers, and I’m honoured to be in this 2nd graphic novel collection with 5 others! 📬 www.instagram.com/p/DRTQlk4jG9...
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November 21, 2025 at 3:47 PM
Yesterday was a great day to have a stamp unveiled by Canada Post! Rural places like mine depend so much on CP, we support the workers, and I’m honoured to be in this 2nd graphic novel collection with 5 others! 📬 www.instagram.com/p/DRTQlk4jG9...
Reposted by Alison
Making the “Stamp News” canadianstampnews.com/stamps-celeb...
Stamps celebrate leading Canadian graphic novelists - Canadian Stamp News
A new set of Canadian stamps is shining the spotlight on six of the country’s most celebrated graphic novelists, each represented with original artwork created exclusively for this release. The issue ...
canadianstampnews.com
November 21, 2025 at 3:47 PM
Making the “Stamp News” canadianstampnews.com/stamps-celeb...
Reposted by Alison
This is just to say
I have [fed AI]
the [poems]
that were in
the icebox
and which
you were probably
saving
for [a new collection]
Forgive me
they were delicious
and [turned
the robot] so cold.
I have [fed AI]
the [poems]
that were in
the icebox
and which
you were probably
saving
for [a new collection]
Forgive me
they were delicious
and [turned
the robot] so cold.
Looks like LLMs are *very* vulnerable to attack via poetic allusion: "curated poetic prompts yielded high attack-success rates (ASR), with some providers exceeding 90% ..."
https://arxiv.org/html/2511.15304v1
https://arxiv.org/html/2511.15304v1
November 20, 2025 at 9:29 PM
This is just to say
I have [fed AI]
the [poems]
that were in
the icebox
and which
you were probably
saving
for [a new collection]
Forgive me
they were delicious
and [turned
the robot] so cold.
I have [fed AI]
the [poems]
that were in
the icebox
and which
you were probably
saving
for [a new collection]
Forgive me
they were delicious
and [turned
the robot] so cold.