MelM

Bless you for that.

My Canadian-Australian kid swears by Vegemite on a St-Viateur bagel (Vegemite also, coincidentally, being available just around the corner at Ta on Parc).

That sounds ideal. I'm looking for a solution that would allow a bunch of teenage boys to (relatively) safely conduct their D&D campaigns at our house. Pooling tests would certainly save on costs. Have you seen this thread, though, Nancy? Tara M's assessment gave me pause.

bsky.app/profile/spir...

You're right. That's fair. And still, as you say, too expensive by far.

This thread also gives me pause.

bsky.app/profile/spir...

The reader may be cheap, but... $40 (US!!) per test -- and that's 'on sale'!

Here in Quebec, it costs close to $1000 to get all members of my family vaccinated. We simply can't afford to do that twice a year - though I sorely wish that we could.

The terrorist next door doesn't deserve Canada’s support Mark Carney would be wise to assert a new Canadian sovereignty on the world stage by breaking with the U.S. on foreign policy.

“Canada would be wise to break with U.S. foreign policy. Jean Chrétien did that with the war in Iraq, and we were commended for it. Canada is known for diplomacy, and we take pride in having invented peacekeeping. We neither negotiate with nor support terrorists, even if they live next door.”

Western countries backing what the US and Israel are doing in Iran aren’t just going to lose legitimacy in the eyes of their domestic publics, but are shredding any notion a new alliance of middle powers or whatever can defend any semblance of an international order.

Corollary: for many hundreds of years the vast majority of people had absolutely no access to university, be it for credentialism or self-fulfillment.

"God's Away On Business" by Tom Waits | Videos | Anti Records '"God's Away On Business"' by Tom Waits

www.anti.com/videos/gods-...

How many minutes will it take the US to hand on any Ukraine anti-drone tech insights to Russia?

The last photo of third-grader Mikaeil Mirdoraghi, waving to his mom before he left for school. He was killed shortly after in the U.S./Israeli strike on a primary school in Minab.

Canada Is Already at War with the US—We Just Don’t Know It Yet | The Walrus Conflicts don’t always start with an invasion

Well this is a deeply unsettling read for your Friday evening.

Australia wasn’t the first place where women could vote but it was the first to do this: What Canadian PM Mark Carney got right Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney may have woken up this morning to a few headlines that made his heart skip a beat. During a visit to Canberra, Mr Carney addressed federal parliament calling for unity and optimism. And then he said this. “Let us remember that Australia was the first nation in the world to give women the right to vote and to stand for Parliament,” Mr Carney says. The parliament responds with “hear, hear”. Then came the headlines – some which have now suspiciously disappeared – calling out the ‘embarrassing’ moment. How could the Canadian Prime Minister snub New Zealand like that? New Zealand, in fact, was the first country in the world to give women voting rights. Years and years of fighting and petitioning by New Zealand’s leading suffragists and feminists led to the creation of the Electoral Act 1893, giving all adult women the right to vote. Less than two months later, more than 100,000 women in New Zealand were enrolled to vote. Even Mr Carney’s own colleague – Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour – decided to add some salt to the stinging headlines. But here’s the thing. Mr Carney may actually have nothing to be embarrassed about. And there is a reason the parliament floor just nodded along when he made the statement. In 1894, one year after New Zealand’s historic move, a bill was passed giving women in South Australia the right to vote but this is the interesting bit. The 1894 Bill requiring a change to the Constitution to give women the right to vote also included a clause that prevented them from becoming members of parliament. According to parliament records, an outspoken critic of women’s suffrage “almost accidentally” got this clause removed. “Ebenezer Ward, an outspoken opponent of women’s suffrage successfully moved for this to be removed during the Second Reading, hoping that it would seem so ridiculous for women to be members of Parliament that the whole Bill would be voted out,” records state. “But the change was accepted so the women of South Australia gained complete parliamentary equality with men.” In 1895, women in South Australia were legally allowed to vote and run for parliament – making Australia the first nation in the world to do both. As much as this should be celebrated, it took until 1962 for Indigenous women to be granted voting rights. Mr Carney’s comment is correct – Australia was in many ways a pioneer in this space but it has also made grave mistakes. And as we saw with Mr Ward’s staunch opposition to women’s participation in politics, there are still many today pushing back against the incredible gains women have made in recent decades. Many of us today vote and lead in spaces where women were once told they have no right being in. And it’s thanks to the fierce women and girls – of all backgrounds, cultures, faiths – who chose to be difficult, who chose to believe in a better future and who chose to confront the systems that were holding them back. It’s their dedication to this day that is transforming societies not just in Australia but around the world. And it’s up to every one of us to keep building on that. Share this Prime Minister Mark Carneywomen in politicsWomen’s voting rights by Dinushi Dias 1 hour ago ## Stay Smart! Get Women's Agenda in your inbox * Email * Email This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged. Δ ## Latest news ### Kristi Noem fired by Donald Trump as Homeland Security Secretary ### Two per cent is not progress. It’s a capital warning ### Every degree of global warming deepens gender inequality. Here’s what we can do about it. ### “I can’t go on the big swings”: One playground moment with my 3yo revealed everything about the gender gap in sport ### You know March 8, what about March 1? The question says everything about who feminism centres ### How an International Court judge thinks about hope

Australia wasn’t the first place where women could vote but it was the first to do this: What Canadian PM Mark Carney got right https://womensagenda.com.au/latest/australia-wasnt-the-first-place-where-women-could-vote-but-it-was-the-first-to-do-this-what-canadian-pm-mark-carney-got-right/ #AUSpol

Promoting production of interceptor drones

We could see the importance of the Wild Hornet's drone interceptors from the start, but US officials and military bigwigs, as well as NATO, completely missed it. Ukraine is unmatched.

a stuffed monkey wearing a green shirt and overalls is making a funny face . ALT: a stuffed monkey wearing a green shirt and overalls is making a funny face .

Glances around nervously in Québécois...

Next up, Violent Femmes. 'Six, six, six for my sorrow and seven, seven... no tomorrow!' would really fill out her 6-7 repertoire.

I, for one, am relieved that the office towers are continuing to recover. Thank you, human beings, for the sacrifice you and your families are making.

ANALYSIS | Why the Supreme Court challenge of Quebec's secularism law matters to the whole country | CBC News What began as a fight over the right of teachers in Quebec to wear hijabs has morphed into an epic legal battle about how Canadian democracy should function.

'Who should have final say on our rights and freedoms? Case puts notwithstanding clause on trial'

www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Looking at all the reactions to this and seems the main thing that will happen is Aussies will now go to effort to ensure that US beef isn't in their food.

Likewise!

I think we were simultaneously writing virtually the same response to one another!

Those that buck the trend of conformity and capitulation tend to have unorthodox/outsider leaders.

It's interesting, right? Plenty of examples of companies rewarded by consumers for standing by values. I wonder if professional orthodoxy is largely to blame - adherence to pedantic principles of academic discipline (marketing, finance, what have you).

Indeed. A pity others don't seem tempted to replicate the model.

Costco defied Trump’s DEI directive as Target and Walmart scaled back. Business is booming | Fortune Many companies have dialed back their DEI programs since January 2025, but not Costco.

Got to give Costco some credit - and they're profiting from their stance, to boot.

Turns out being principled is actually good for business...

fortune.com/2026/02/13/c...

Petition: Tell Canada to oppose the Mining Code and protect the deep sea from mining. Sign the Greenpeace petition to tell Canada to oppose the Mining Code and protect the deep sea from mining.

🇨🇦 Canadian-based, @themetalsco.bsky.social, is uniting with 🇺🇸 Trump to bypass the international community & unleash a new era of destructive extraction for profit, at the expense of nature & global cooperation -

act.greenpeace.ca/en-ca/stop-t...

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I'm hearing chatter that the Mexican government may open an inquiry into hostile troll farms. Canada and the EU need to get on this, too. It's mostly just unverified noise right now, but the idea is solid.

N.D.G.'s Empress Theatre to be demolished, turned into an outdoor cultural space montrealgazette.com/news/local-n...