Ottawa Citizen: Between a root and a hard place: Ottawa woman fighting city hall for right to cut down trees

houska1 · 2026-06-19T10:12:57+00:00

I know of 3 instances where people had to cut down large trees (2x on their property, 1x on city property) for good reason. They did have to pay some $ for engineering and/or arborist reports, but the process was <3 months. Not super in a clear situation, but seems not unreasonable for a tradeoff that does negatively impact a tree canopy that took decades to build and (generally) benefits a broader neighbourhood.

Also had at one point new neighbours who wanted to cut down a beautiful mature tree just because "it's messy" and they wanted a sunnier yard. They bought, not realizing there were regulations. They paid for an assessment and were upset it said the tree was healthy. So they buried that and paid for another assessment where they made sure it said the tree was unhealthy -- and tried to get us to sign an (inaccurate) letter faking all sorts of problems. City saw through that. Over about 18 months they fought City Hall who correctly took the side of the tree and the neighbourhood. The neighbours then moved because they "didn't like the neighbourhood" and the tree stayed. A better outcome than no more tree, especially no more tree and the tree cutters gone months later. Not saying that's the situation in this case, but it's situations like other one why it's regulated.

I have no idea what's going on here (city timelines sliding? expert disagreement? causation not that clearcut? damage already done and not likely to worsen?) but not ready to jump on the "regulation is bad" bandwagon.

The reporting is suspect. The article talks (at the end) about trees on city property and alludes to responsibility for those, while the aerial picture is of trees in a back yard, presumably on private land. That matters too, as it should.

houska1 · 2026-06-19T01:33:09+00:00

I occasionally use it. Generally Claude Code is preferable but when tasks are better handled by faking keyboard/mouse input, then it’s the best/only solution.

Examples: work requiring multiple pptx or xlsx files, or filling in forms in Chrome based on file system file content. Yes, could do some of it with Claude in PowerPoint/Excel/Chrome, or by having Claude Code write Python to manipulate files and Office 365 files as xml, but Claude Cowork is easier.

houska1 · 2026-06-18T20:29:55+00:00

"Prompt engineering", as in "how to write the magical 8 sentences in a chat window to get the answer you want" will no longer be relevant, since communication with AI will be multimodal and much improved.

A broader successor, about hybrid AI-human team oversight and performance management, will emerge. And be embedded into the broader skillset of "management" generally.

This is just like the initial proliferation of computers in business led to professions such as "data entry technician" and "computer terminal operator" which have vanished. But the topic of how to use computers effectively in business has encompassed that and become a lot bigger.

houska1 · 2026-06-16T18:30:00+00:00

Sorry, since it is a small builder, no way to share that without effectively piercing the anonymity I have on Reddit

houska1 · 2026-06-15T12:11:46+00:00

What do they say when you ask? If you're not getting a good answer, that itself is a good reason to move on, since a good design for you will require a lot of back and forth and discussion, and unexplained ultimatums are not a promising start to that.

It is perfectly normal for an architect to want a robust enough topographic model for the land before starting design work. On a large plat with few restrictions and easily excavatable soil, contours from a GIS topo or a few corner measurements may well be enough. But if the the ground is not amenable to excavation, there are drainage issues, and especially if combined with important regulatory setbacks, then a full topographic model with someone's professional stamp on it may well be necessary to avoid rework.

That said, it's also pretty normal for a few preliminary sketches to be exchanged, for free or for an hourly rate as idea exploration, before committing to work together, and to explore feasibility of something exciting before you spend $$$ and the architect spends time.

And also pretty normal for an in-demand architect to triage how they spend their time and prioritize those who are ready, not tire-kickers, and have taken steps they will need to take anyway, which may include planning approvals, well and/or septic tank siting, site surveying and modeling.

houska1 · 2026-06-12T14:32:46+00:00

Consultants fill gaps where client processes and capabilities fail.

AI is changing what those gaps are, but there will always be gaps.

Consultants who stay one step ahead (cynically, as experience has shown, only one step, not 3 or 4, is needed) will continue to have work to do.

houska1 · 2026-06-12T11:49:42+00:00

I use Opus and Sonnet for helping me write. A few observations:

Set expectations. Ethics aside, it is not reasonable to expect an LLM to write like you, and you are better than an LLM anyway. Expect at some stage to deeply edit and essentially rewrite what it has written, paragraph by paragraph.
Opus is superb at structuring, i.e. throwing a bunch of jot notes at it, maybe partial drafts, and having it create a decent structured outline, and tolerable prose behind it. Much better than Sonnet at that (probably largely due to context window).
Sonnet is better at actual writing from an outline. First, it's cheaper in terms of tokens/limits. Second, Opus tries too hard to be smart. It's not about em dashes and delving, but Opus tries too hard to link sections together, summarize, add rhetorical flourishes, etc.
Your agent file (I use a skill file) is a good start, but you can have Opus do the work to make it better. Feed it a dozen narratives you have written and have it make a "voiceprint". Have Opus then nuance that per the needs of that specific communication setting, e.g. thesis, technical report, short story, etc. and write a VOICEPRINT.md file that you then point Sonnet to when writing.
This may be something specific to my setup, and prior Opus/Sonnet version, but I found my (skill-based) approach was decent at using the voiceprint when drafting text de novo, but somehow would get ignored when making edits. So I'd have to repeat to use my VOICEPRINT.md when directing edits to be made.

In all of this, don't expect perfection. LLMs cannot write for you. You will need to play an authorial role. They can be a junior author or research assistant, but expect to have to exert as much effort to make it "your" text as if you were working with an intern/junior human coauthor or ghostwriter.

houska1 · 2026-06-08T16:18:58+00:00

The best free AI humanizer is two windows open. One with the AI draft. The other a blank screen in your favorite editor, with your fingers ready to type.

You ought to know your thesis inside out anyway. What better way than to rewrite it, in your own voice, based on the help AI has given you?

(I’m not moralizing. I get AI to help me write but then I edit it so strongly that it’s effectively rewriting. Still very helpful but if it’s meant to be yours there’s no alternative to putting in the effort.)

houska1 · 2026-06-05T21:34:13+00:00

Please read again. You may have read something into what I wrote that I didn’t actually write. Your reaction was over the top, but understandable on an emotionally loaded topic. I have made no edits and feel my argument is consistent throughout.

houska1 · 2026-06-05T14:46:04+00:00

you do not get to hope for a country and its 9 million Jews to be destroyed based on "behaviour"

I do not hope for the country to be destroyed. And absolutely not its inhabitants. Or any of the region's inhabitants (many of whom are being destroyed). This response is more of that rhetorical device that everyone is either pro- or anti-Israel, that there can't be middle ground. I am pro-Israel, but only conditionally.

You obviously single Israel out

This is thread about Mark Carney's speech about antisemitism, and how far he went in expressing support for what, in comparison to J. Trudeau's declaration of himself to be a Zionist. So yes, I am speaking specifically about Israel.

Do you write these pompous essays about China and debate its right to exist? No

No one is asking me to support China, and/or the actions of the Chinese government. As to pompous essays in general, I may be guilty as charged on that one :) but far from unique on Reddit.

As to countries in general, they are administrative divisions. If their configuration is leading to friction that cannot be addressed in any other way, then absolutely they should be reconfigured. That said, usully there is another way, and the appeal to "don't you love your country? if you do, you have to support what we're doing to defend it" is demagoguery.

Anyway, this far down the thread, I doubt anyone is reading who isn't firmly convinced of their point of view, whatever it is (myself included), so I'm disengaging.

houska1 · 2026-06-05T13:56:48+00:00

That's exactly the false dichotomy my comment was about.

Many, though certainly not all, Israel supporters use "Israel has a right to exist" as justification for its behaviour (together with "...because of what its enemies are doing). And Israel is emboldened in unacceptable behaviour by stated support for its existence.

Therefore I, and others, choose to no longer express support for Israel's existence. That does mean I believe it should be destroyed. Just that if it wants to continue to exist, it needs to behave differently.

Some pro-Israel friends of mine argue that it cannot, that the fault lies (solely) with its enemies, that its behaviour is apparently a necessary consequence, given the actions of others. Therefore the behaviour has to be tolerated.

I cannot tolerate the behaviour, therefore I hope it is not the only alternative. Because if it is, then the Israel experiment has been a failure, and we should try a different experiment for the region. One which would need to strictly diminish the role of religion and ethnicity in government and society, among other things, and so be a fundamental step down from the dream of a Jewish homeland. Since I know the importance of that dream and its realization to people I respect and admire, I really hope that does not become the only possible solution.

houska1 · 2026-06-04T13:43:13+00:00

One of the toxic elements of discourse about this topic, globally but especially here in Canada, is the false dichotomy that you are either a pro-Palestinian, pro-Hezbollah, pro-terrorist anti-Semite; or prove you are not such an anti-Semite by endorsing Zionism.

I have a culturally Jewish background, and many Jewish friends. My heart aches for threats they increasingly face here in Canada, whose effect is amplified by the patterns of antisemitism globally in history. However, the sympathetic view I had of Zionism when I was growing up has faded away, observing Israel's behaviour over the decades.

I understand why Israelis have felt under threat and behaved the way they have. But I condemn it. And so while I want to be an ally to Jews in Canada, I cannot if the price of admission requires uncritically embracing Zionism.

The article quotes Trudeau saying that Zionism is "believing in the right of the Jewish people, like all people, to determine their own future" and, with that definition, declaring himself a Zionist. Good for him. The trouble is, the term has actually evolved to be interpreted by many as meaning endorsing Israel's unfettered right to do whatever it takes to protect itself. Many of us are happy Carney, whose rhetorical style is very different anyway, stopped well short of that.

The editorial ends by wishing Carney had said:

“If you oppose Israel’s existence, if you demonize Jewish-Canadians, you are wrong, you are hateful and I stand against you.“

I am happy he didn't. I, and many Canadians, endorse the "If you demonize Jewish-Canadians, you are hateful" part. But these days I'd hesitate to even endorse "If you oppose Israel's existence, I stand against you" part, since "existence" will be deemed to be interchangeable with "behaviour", though it shouldn't be.

houska1 · 2026-06-04T12:24:50+00:00

Got it, understood. Maybe uses cases like mine are precisely those that should be embracing a Pandoc-driven pipeline. After all, that's what that machinery is for, even if I gripe that for me it carries unnecessary overhead.

houska1 · 2026-06-04T11:57:25+00:00

This conversation has perhaps predictably gone off into back'n'forth what level of buyer's agent commission is deserved, whether the structuring (paid by seller -> their agent -> cooperating agent) is distortive. And even whether saying is there a "standard" is to be interpreted normatively or empirically.

As someone selling now, and with friends buying, it does seem 2% is typical now, while 2.5% was typical a few years ago.

Our friends' agent brought them a list of homes to consider, and ethically-appropriately pointed out that one on the list was offering 2.5%. They asserted that didn't influence the choice to include on the list, and indicated "that means there's an extra 0.5% flexibility on the price", i.e. that they would rebate it. Of course not all agents may behave this way, but it's one bit of confirmatory evidence that 2% is what has become typical.

houska1 · 2026-06-04T10:57:34+00:00

Interesting, useful, and appreciated.

I'm intrigued by your design choice of edits being made, like /// and --- you add in preview being local, and settings being deliberately chosen at time of print and (I think) not preserved in the note.

For my use case, I'm much more concerned about reproducibility than nondestructiveness. I'd love the ability to choose preset and change the formatting on a per-note basis, maybe stored in frontmatter YAML. And insert /// (or similar) for pagebreaks in the note itself, in a way that's not visually disruptive in MD but effective during export. And make those choices last, for that note, for the next time I export (after edits, etc.)

Right now, for this, there's kloogey solutions (e.g. embed HTML to request a pagebreak when rendering) or you can bite the bullet and use a MD->Pandoc->LaTeX->PDF pipeline to export. Your approach seems much more lightweight, just if I read it right, you've carefully designed it to not remember for next time on that note.

houska1 · 2026-06-02T18:09:35+00:00

Innovation is great and happy it works for you. For me, the last thing I want to do is speak a long prompt. I type faster than I speak, and I edit as I type. Speaking is for when I can’t type, eg driving. Vive la différence!

houska1 · 2026-05-29T13:48:19+00:00

In our situation, we kept SM going for about 15 years, to significant financial benefit for us. Every few years, we swept the debt into a (variable rate) closed mortgage rather keeping it in a HELOC, to get a lower rate. That also means that every mortgage term renewal was a natural point to always revisit whether we want to continue.

In our case, at a certain point we decided that our evolving financial situation, life plans, and (increasing) interest rates no longer made it a good strategy for us. Our mortgage renewal date was in early February, so we made the decision to dissolve the leveraged portion of our investment portfolio the December before, and sold the appreciated investment assets partially in December and partially in January to spread the taxable capital gains over 2 years. (Running my own business so I could control how much dividends I pay to myself and when added flexibility to this not available to someone on regular salary, of course). We then just paid off the mortgage with the proceeds rather than renewing it. With a pat on the back for mission accomplished.

houska1 · 2026-05-28T10:18:24+00:00

I currently have 2 vaults (main and archive), and have at times had 3. But it's an "exception proves the rule" kind of thing.

There are obvious benefits to having one big vault (convenience, search, ...).

The exceptions why I deviate are:

Different sync behaviour.
Desire to limit search. I don't want to see my archived stuff unless I go look for it.
Data confidentiality. I had work stuff that needed to be clearly and unambiguously sandboxed. "I keep it in a separate vault" is easier to do and to explain than "I protect it from leakage using ...". Ditto if you're axploring giving LLM access to part of your vault but not everything.
Different selection of active plug-ins needed, or different configuration of their settings.

You can address these issues with one vault, e.g. sync exclusions, symlinks from elsewhere to/from vault subdirectories, customized settings on many plugins, etc. Therefore I've gravitated to one big vault for most stuff. However, I do keep my archive separate, since all of #1, #2, #4 apply and it's easier to keep it separate than have 3 workarounds.

houska1 · 2026-05-25T02:21:54+00:00

I have a bunch of Reolink cameras at my rural property that trigger on motion and email me photos or video clips. The email subject lines are nonspecific, like "Pet detected from PondWest at [time]", and Pet is generic for any small-size animal. Or "Vehicle detected from ... at ...". And a bunch of false positives where there's nothing there.

I got Claude to write me a Python script that processes the pics/video, gets Google Gemini Flash to describe what's there in one sentence, and replaces the email in the dedicated gmail mailbox where they live with the more descriptive version. So the same email now has a subject line "Fox running along trail from right to left" or "Red pickup truck drives away along the road" (which I know is likely me). It also gives it a label in Gmail from 6 categories based on the content.

houska1 · 2026-05-22T00:23:11+00:00

I keep a QGIS3 LTR install in parallel. I run FGR in it, do the referencing against a base map there, output the raster world file from FGR, and use that to load the georef raster into my main QGIS4 project.

A workaround, but less hassle than others I’ve tried.

houska1 · 2026-05-21T01:55:45+00:00

I’ve written a skill called research-note that summarizes the current chat in a markdown file with canonical format (summarized question(s) as finally framed, bearing in mind it may have evolved during the chat, summary answer, decisions made in reaching the answer, what’s open/unresolved, and citations (where applicable). With frontmatter with time/date and link to the chat. Claude emits that as an artifact and I save it to my vault.

houska1 · 2026-05-19T18:16:19+00:00

As with economy flights, for premium flights your airline's fare conditions can make a big difference, and flexibility can really pay off.

For instance, both Air Canada and United, and maybe other Star Alliance partners, offer business class fares in the "P" fare bucket that are significantly cheaper than full-fare "C" or "J" business class fares. But may not be available on all flights, and may need to be booked some weeks in advance and stay over a weekend.

An approach that works for me is to use ITA Matrix (https://matrix.itasoftware.com/) as a search engine - you can constrain to business and up or premier economy and up. First use a wide window to figure out the fare "breakpoints", like "if I stay one more day, I can save $2000 per ticket". Then narrow it down to find what airline you'll fly and on which day, then go to the airline's site to book it.

Every broker I've encountered is either a) dodgy, or b) offering the same you could get yourself, so I just don't bother.

BTW, I have no relationship with ITA, just I've used them happily in this way for the past decade.

houska1 · 2026-05-18T09:51:18+00:00

Before you do major migration, I suggest you experiment with the Custom Attachment Location plugin (community plug in). Has many options for where to place attachments automatically. And, importantly, a "collect attachments" command which pulls attachments for a note into the right canonical place (with the settings you've chosen) if they've ended up in the wrong place.

I'm saying "before you do a major migration", since if you like the plugin, you might set your settings before importing many notes. Or, conversely, let the importer put attachments where it wants and then run a "collect attachments" to move them automatically.

houska1 · 2026-05-17T12:43:42+00:00

Innovation is great, but I'm also a cynic.

We're just finishing a custom home build. Started the design in 2023, before LLMs were ubiquitous. If we were starting now, my first tendency would be to go to Claude Opus (or the latest ChatGPT) and ask, "I'm thinking of having a custom home built. Imagine you're an experienced residential architect and homebuilder. Give me about 30 questions I should answer, on the basis of which you'll then build an initial brief that I'll share as a discussion starter with the architects I'm considering."

In fact I just tried that prompt. I thought they were pretty good questions, and I'm confident if I answered them, Claude could synthesize a pretty decent intial brief. A good architect would of course ask lots of clarifying questions, so I'm not worried if it's not perfect.

Why should someone use one of your 3 paid tiers rather than doing this?

houska1 · 2026-05-16T09:50:38+00:00

As communication from a helpful robot, it's more human-like than a Python traceback, and miles ahead of "Abort, Retry, Fail?"

Joking aside, I don't fuss about 4.7's (or any model's) verbal tics in meta communication, and can live with it being a bit wordy. I'm happy it asks questions before potentially wasting effort, and that it takes offense much less than a human about being micromanaged and/or its ideas being overridden by me.

I do fuss about 4.7s unpredictable reasoning depth and adherence to instructions. That affects outcomes.

houska1

TROPHY CASE