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calmandcurious.bsky.social
Steph 🍁
@calmandcurious.bsky.social
930 followers 4.1K following 400 posts
🇨🇦 looking for whimsy, but also wondering about how to proceed in these times.

Mom to three elementary school-aged kids.

Current challenge: #PhD in #education

Other interests/challenges: #t1d, #RA, #ADHD #Autism #AutoimmuneDisease
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tryangregory.bsky.social
People aren't getting it.

Carney plans to spend $1.7 billion on recruiting researchers from the US or who would otherwise go to the US.

Yay, right?

The *entire annual budget* of NSERC is $1.3 billion. And he's cutting that.
December 16, 2025 at 5:01 AM
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deonandan.bsky.social
The flu continues to wreak havoc across the northern hemisphere. In Canada, we've had at least two dozen deaths so far, including among small children, over a handful of days. Here are some things you need to know:

Thread [1/12]
December 15, 2025 at 11:34 PM
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dtmooreeditor.bsky.social
Er. This is absolutely the worst circumstances under which an old thread can be revived, so I'm not quite sure how to react. I guess, thank you all for reskeeting and quoteskeeting, and please share the joy around. ❤️

Heartbroken to hear about the murders of Rob Reiner and Michele Singer.
dtmooreeditor.bsky.social David Thomas Moore @dtmooreeditor.bsky.social · Jun 5
As you may know, I have stopped using Twitter, and have decided to reproduce some of my more memorable threads here for posterity. Here’s one I hold wrote after a particularly engaging swordfighting lesson.

Buckle up, swordfighting fans, because I *have* studied my Agrippa!

[BIG ASS THREAD]
a man reading a book to a young boy
Alt: a man reading a book to a young boy
media.tenor.com
December 15, 2025 at 11:32 AM
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sanctorium.bsky.social
One cannot be deeply responsive to the world without being saddened very often.

Erich Fromm
December 15, 2025 at 12:12 PM
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thoughtrise.bsky.social
this field biologist does a great job highlighting the insidiousness of AI editing

these one-click AI edit buttons are incredibly appealing to many photographers, amateurs and professionals alike, and are framed as innocuous

this is worth sharing and educating people about
screenshot of a post on facebook from Alex Lamoreaux, depicting two versions of the "same" photograph of a bobcat in front of a pine plantation, one labeled original game cam photo, one labeling AI processed the markings have been altered on the AI photo, and the head changed and resized text says: Oh! A neat goose hybrid posted to ‘What’s this Bird?’ but when you zoom in on the photos the bill details have been too manipulated by AI photo editing to be accurately assessed for which species may be involved. Scroll on… A cool-looking Red-tailed Hawk that someone is wondering which subspecies it might be - right up my alley! But when you zoom in on the photos literally every feather group has been so heavily manipulated and altered by AI editing that it’s impossible to determine subspecies because the photo is essentially fake now; just a mashup of whatever AI thinks parts of a Red-tail should look like. Scroll on… WOW! That’s a remarkable trail cam photo of a Bobcat! It almost looks like a painting!… but the head looks oddly small…. hmmmm. After some prodding the original photo is produced and sure enough it had been so heavily altered by AI ‘post processing’ that the photo posted was essentially a digital mock-up with totally different proportions and fur markings. No longer the photo off the trail cam; it may as well have just been ‘created’ by AI from scratch. This stuff is killing me. My days on social media are becoming very limited. We can’t even trust simple, everyday photos of animals to be real. The wildlife community needs to quit editing with AI, and we need to start calling out photographers that are using it. Our reality is being destroyed all around us.
December 15, 2025 at 2:21 AM
calmandcurious.bsky.social
First the shooting at Brown University in the US, then at Bondi Beach in Australia. What a terrible 24 h. So heartbreaking for these communities and for us all.
December 14, 2025 at 1:24 PM
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mark-carney.bsky.social
We’re going to build a high-speed rail network that will connect millions of Canadians, build our economy, and create thousands of high-paying careers.
Screenshot of an article from CBC News. The headline reads: Montreal-Ottawa chosen as first leg of high-speed rail project.
December 13, 2025 at 4:50 PM
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waterloompp.bsky.social
"Waterloo Region lost its planning department in 2024, by decree of Premier Doug Ford. The cities and townships now have responsibility for that. But if cities and townships want to grow faster than the water supply can handle, we have a problem." #onpoli
News of a water shortage in Waterloo Region is a warning
We need to seriously consider whether we have enough water for a million people, which is the expected size of Waterloo Region by 2051, Luisa D’Amato writes
www.therecord.com
December 11, 2025 at 8:30 PM
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parlcharlie.bsky.social
It's that time again - your annual reminder about the sleigh bells section in Ontario's Highway Traffic Act -- plan accordingly! ☃️🛷🔔🦌
Sleigh bells 77 (1) Every person travelling on a highway with a sleigh or sled drawn by a horse or other animal shall have at least two bells attached to the harness or to the sleigh or sled in such a manner as to give ample warning sound. R.S.O. 1990, c. H.8, s. 77 (1). Penalty (2) Every person who contravenes subsection (1) is guilty of an offence and on conviction is liable to a fine of not more than $5. R.S.O. 1990, c. H.8, s. 77 (2).
December 10, 2025 at 7:00 PM
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brucearthur.bsky.social
Yes yes yes, but: can we also make sure our university and college system is well-funded and secure? Can we do that?
December 9, 2025 at 11:44 PM
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jm-mcgrath.bsky.social
'We will never fucking trust you again' www.readtheline.ca/p/matt-gurne...
Matt Gurney: 'We will never fucking trust you again'
Some blunt talk for our American neighbours at the Halifax International Security Forum.
www.readtheline.ca
December 8, 2025 at 9:56 PM
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oneawkwardmom.bsky.social
If you’re wondering what it’s like to have kids, turn your house upside down, shake it, smear yogurt on the walls, then hide one shoe. Repeat daily.
December 9, 2025 at 2:21 AM
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remyscameraeye.bsky.social
On The Lookout... Early morning. Pablo The Pine Marten, looking sneaky behind a snowbank. Don't let the good looks fool you. He's known as nature's most adorable assassin. A true predator. 📸🇨🇦
#AlgonquinPark #PineMarten
#Mammals #Wildlife
#Photograph #OntarioParks #Canada
December 7, 2025 at 11:22 PM
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remyscameraeye.bsky.social
On The Move... Early evening. Coco The Eastern Coyote, totally focused, as she prepares for her evening hunt. Incredibly beautiful and extremely intelligent. 📸🇨🇦
#EasternCoyote #CanisLatransVar #Mammals #Nature
#Wildlife #OntarioParks #Canada
December 8, 2025 at 12:32 AM
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literaryhub.bsky.social
Streaming? Out. Borrowing physical media from your public library? In.
Have libraries have become the new Blockbuster?
Streaming is over. The magazine is back. And everyone who’s too online is apparently getting off again. The time is ripe for an analog revolution. And where better to start than the stacks? A…
buff.ly
December 7, 2025 at 8:00 PM
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runningthegoat.bsky.social
Can’t make it out to the shop for Christmas in the Cove this weekend?

December 6th and 7th get 15% off all books and cards on our website. www.runningthegoat.com

Shop small and local this holiday season, and take advantage of our local delivery between Tors Cove and St. John’s.
Text not repeated in the post reads "discount will be automatically added at checkout. Orders will be delivered early the following week"
December 5, 2025 at 4:09 PM
calmandcurious.bsky.social
Loved this reddit post about creating a Canadian folk song playlist for the kids' Yoto player, and was wondering what else to add to the list.
Reddit post by curlycattails: I made my daughter a card of Canadian folk songs like "Land of the Silver Birch," "Alouette," "Donkey Riding," "The Good Old Hockey Game," "Northwest Passage" etc. And she loves all of them!! It makes me happy.
December 7, 2025 at 1:21 PM
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canadianpaintings.bsky.social
Crystalline
Katharine Burns
2019
December 6, 2025 at 10:01 AM
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whimsicalmuse.bsky.social
I don’t know who needs to hear this, but your Christmas wish to have a bookshelf with a rolling ladder is not “unrealistic.”
December 6, 2025 at 9:00 PM
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wyman10.bsky.social
Suomi Kuvakartta Sommitellut by Aarne Nopsernen (1956)

Scanned at 600dpi. This pictorial map is worth a zoom and pan archive.org/details/WCWd...

#Finland #Independence #Day
#Suomi #AarneNopsernen #PictoralMap
Suomi Kuvakartta Sommitellut by Aarne Nopsernen (1956) Translation: Finland Photo Map composed by Aarne Nopsernen [map portion] Suomi Kuvakartta Sommitellut by Aarne Nopsernen (1956) Translation: Finland Photo Map composed by Aarne Nopsernen Showing natural resources, tourists and wolves. [map portion] Suomi Kuvakartta Sommitellut by Aarne Nopsernen (1956) Translation: Finland Photo Map composed by Aarne Nopsernen Showing: Cities of Hanko, Helsinki, Kotka [map portion] Suomi Kuvakartta Sommitellut by Aarne Nopsernen (1956) Translation: Finland Photo Map composed by Aarne Nopsernen Showing: North West part of the country -- Länsi-Lappi
December 6, 2025 at 10:24 PM
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brianbilston.bsky.social
Annual reminder to water your Christmas tree poems …
This poem is written in the shape of a Christmas tree (well, most of it is) … Needles I wrote a poem in the shape of a Christmas tree but then forgot to water it and only a few days later [but the words beyond this point are scattered around the bottom of the page, like needles which have fallen from a Xmas tree) there were words all over the carpet
December 7, 2025 at 10:50 AM
calmandcurious.bsky.social
"The syllables that meant herself. ... Alias, alas, / A lass alike alone and at a loss."
Alice, Bewildered Deep in the wood where things escape their names, Her childish arm draped round the fawn's soft neck (Her diffidence, its skittishness in check, Merged in the anonymity that tames), She knits her brow, but nothing now reclaims The syllables that meant herself. Ah well, She need not answer to the grown-up beck And call, the rote-learned lessons, scolds and blames Of girlhood, sentences to parse and gloss; She's un-twinned from the likeness in the glass. Yet in the dark ellipsis she can tell, She's certain, that her name begins with "L"- Liza, Lacie? Alias, alas, A lass alike alone and at a loss. Like Poems by A. E. Stallings
December 7, 2025 at 11:50 AM
calmandcurious.bsky.social
"Clankity Clankity Clankity Clank! Ankylosaurus was built like a tank"
Tyrannosaurus Was a Beast Dinosaur poems by JACK PRELUTZKY illustrated by ARNOLD LOBEL Clankity Clankity Clankity Clank! Ankylosaurus was built like a tank, its hide was a fortress as sturdy as steel, it tended to be an inedible meal. It was armored in front, it was armored behind, there wasn't a thing on its minuscule mind, it waddled about on its four stubby legs, nibbling on plants with a mouthful of pegs. Ankylosaurus was best left alone, its tail was a cudgel of gristle and bone, Clankity Clankity Clankity Clank! Ankylosaurus was built like a tank. Ankylosaurus statues at the Royal Tyrrell Museum in Drumheller, Alberta, Canada
December 7, 2025 at 11:34 AM
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tomgauld.bsky.social
My latest cartoon for @newscientist.com
A small child approaches his scientist father who is working at a large, strange, contraption. His face pressed to a viewing tube. “Are you looking forward to Christmas, papa?” Asks the child. “Yes,” replies the scientist“ turning round, “that is exactly what I am doing” then he adds “Thank you for the socks.” We can now see that the viewing tube breaks the border of the comics panel, passes through complicated machinery and allows the scientist to see into the next comic panel: Caption: December 25th A Christmas scene. The child and father-scientist open presents before a Christmas tree. The father has just unwrapped some socks.
December 7, 2025 at 8:56 AM
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waterloompp.bsky.social
December 6, 1989: An armed man killed 14 women and injured 13 other people at École Polytechnique. Fuelled by misogyny, he claimed he was "fighting feminism". We must never forget the horror of that day. I'm honoured to be joined by community leaders to name the victims. #CallItFemicide
December 6, 2025 at 1:42 PM