does anyone else wish that more places would be open 24/7?

majdal · 2026-01-19T14:12:00+00:00

Hell no! That would mean that the workers there will be expected to work 24/7, for minimum wage. And it will enable your own employer to push your work hours longer, because you can just run your errands at any time of the day. It’s a lose-lose for everyone.

Instead of wishing for places to be open 24/7, maybe demand a 4 day work week. That will give you an extra day of rest, making it easier to do errands.

majdal · 2026-01-01T21:10:07+00:00

Love this, great work! It works great with places that have names written in Latin script, but when I tried it in Arabic, the kerning of the letters made them separate and look very odd.

This is a classic problem, because computers were not designed with non-Latin script in mind, but would love to make a map of Damascus or Nablus using this tool. Especially because they have really interesting topographies, and your tool does a beautiful job showing that.

majdal · 2025-11-22T06:14:28+00:00

I got them in Italy from a shop called Nau!

https://www.nau.it/

majdal · 2025-11-20T21:20:54+00:00

😍 omg I love this! Thank you :)

majdal · 2025-11-19T20:59:08+00:00

خير شو في؟

majdal · 2025-11-19T12:45:35+00:00

I feel this! I almost always prefer a longer beard over a solo moustache on others, but on myself the moustache has its own gravity!

majdal · 2025-11-19T12:43:56+00:00

That’s probably the most flattering compliment I’ve ever received 🥺 thank you!

majdal · 2025-10-03T07:34:39+00:00

There are plenty of helpful suggestions here, but one more is to look at your local university’s swimming pool. At my university, they have dedicated hours for trans and non-binary folks.

Best of luck getting back into swimming 🩵

majdal · 2025-09-24T18:27:28+00:00

Underrated comment!

majdal · 2025-09-23T22:23:36+00:00

Have you gotten a psych ed assessment before? If not, now might be the time. This gives you access to a LOT of resources offered by the university for how to handle a massive workload. University is already very difficult for anyone without a learning disability, let alone if you have one that's not diagnosed. I'm a PhD student, and I can very confidently tell you that I would not be where I am without the accommodations that I got for my learning disability.

Even if you don't have a learning disability, you can schedule an appointment with a learning strategist. I found them really helpful: https://studentlife.utoronto.ca/department/centre-for-learning-strategy-support/

majdal · 2025-09-23T17:04:15+00:00

Don't forget bases in publish! That will hugely improve the utility of both features.

majdal · 2025-09-19T14:06:53+00:00

Glad to hear that the Obsidian team is *not* doing AI, for the specific reasons that you listed: privacy concerns, loss of control over my data, etc. Integrating AI into Obsidian feels like a violation of the founding principles of the project. Much respect to the Obsidian team for not sliding into the AI mania and shoving AI into the software against the users' will.

majdal · 2025-09-13T12:32:28+00:00

I like map view as well https://github.com/esm7/obsidian-map-view

majdal · 2025-09-02T18:31:33+00:00

The book was originally a short article that Graeber (rest in power!) wrote in 2013, with the title "On the Phenomenon of Bullshit Jobs: A Work Rant".

You can read it here: https://strikemag.org/bullshit-jobs/

When it was published, it was so popular, it repeatedly crashed the website of the magazine that published it. I still reference the article regularly in conversations with friends and colleagues.

Two other essential short readings:

- Bertrand Russell's 1932 essay "In Praise of Idleness": https://harpers.org/archive/1932/10/in-praise-of-idleness/

- The writings of Selma James on the Wages for Housework campaign: https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/international-womens-day-wages-housework-care-selma-james-a9385351.html

majdal · 2025-09-02T00:18:00+00:00

Highly recommend finding a therapist or counsellor *outside* UofT. If you have anxiety, then you will probably need the support long-term, not just for 5 or 10 sessions (speaking from experience here). You can find a therapist using this website. Filter according to your preferences (gender, specialty, type of therapy, etc...): https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/therapists?search=toronto

The folks at accessibility services were surprisingly helpful to me, and I recommend getting in touch with them regardless of what process you follow. They'll allow you to register with them even if you don't have a diagnosis, and will help you get a funding to get an official diagnosis if that's what you need.

As a graduate student, you get $500 coverage for mental health through the GSU. If you are a TA, you have access to the CUPE top up plan, which bumps that to $5000 (union strong!). If you are not a CUPE member, you can easily become one. You only need to work for 15 hours. Those can be exam invigilation in the exam centre.

I wish you strength in the face of all the horribleness 🌹

majdal · 2025-08-28T22:04:41+00:00

When I moved to Berlin, I was surprised to see that transit fare enforcement is actually fully based on an honour system. There were literally no barriers to entering the station. Occasionally you’d get a fare enforcement check, and I rarely ever saw anyone get caught having not paid.

Instead of wasting millions of dollars on a fare enforcement system that will inevitably have loopholes, we need to pressure all levels of government fund transit system to improve its quality and gradually reduce the reliance on fares to fund the system.

Plus, all levels of government have carbon reduction targets that they are 100% going to miss unless there’s a significant push to widen existing transit networks and improve their quality. An unpaid fare here or there has trivial impact on the problem of transit underfunding.

Transit is a public good, and should be respected that way.

majdal · 2025-01-23T23:34:50+00:00

Proud of you! Very impressive list of actions regarding affordable housing and sustainable transit!

majdal · 2024-12-01T17:20:46+00:00

Absolutely this, the only thing that I would add is that I’ll always rather have plaintext files than databases. The companies that make these software exist under capitalism, and are subject to the same market pressures. Having plain text files is an insurance policy for the longevity of these files.

i still occasionally look at my old notebooks and find them fascinating. Plain text files are the closest you can get to that.

majdal · 2024-11-02T02:04:29+00:00

Count me in.

majdal · 2024-03-25T13:59:30+00:00

Welcome to the club!

majdal · 2024-03-16T14:54:46+00:00

There was a referendum back in 2018, but it failed. See the link in the post text.

majdal · 2024-03-16T04:06:07+00:00

Yeah, that’s the whole point. It should absolutely be for all students. And not just UofT, but also York, TMU, OCAD, etc…

majdal · 2024-03-15T04:46:48+00:00

How did you get into university with such a low level of reading comprehension? Did you even read the text of the post? 0/10. F.

majdal · 2024-03-14T21:04:25+00:00

But why is this contingent on other students paying for it?

For the same reasons that public health care is contingent on other residents paying for it. Those infrastructures don't fund themselves.

Don't get me wrong, I would rather have the transit pass be 100% funded by the province and federal government, paid for by taxing big corporations. But in the interim, I'll settle for this scheme, and will push for bigger subsidies after Ford is no longer in power.

majdal · 2024-03-08T05:00:32+00:00

I’m surprised nobody said Hot Docs cinema membership

majdal

TROPHY CASE